After a two-year pandemic break, Nahe-Zeitung, the artillery school and the city of Idar-Oberstein once again hosted their joint New Year's reception. Editorial Director Stefan Conradt, Colonel Dietmar Felber, Head of the Artillery School and General of the Artillery Corps, and Lord Mayor Frank Frühauf welcomed around 400 guests to the Idar-Oberstein Exhibition Center. The entertaining event was musically framed by the Bachwagge, the cultural award winner of the city of Idar-Oberstein in 2020. The singing group, which is primarily dedicated to cultivating local songs, but also has current hits in its repertoire, ensured a good atmosphere and high spirits in the hall.
"The world has changed dramatically since the last New Year's reception in January 2020," stated Mayor Frühauf in his brief welcoming address. These challenging times can only be overcome together, said the mayor, who called for social cohesion and thanked the volunteers in particular, who had contributed a great deal to overcoming the challenges ahead over the past two years.
Lars Hennemann, Editor-in-Chief of the Rhein-Zeitung since summer 2021, gave the keynote speech on behalf of the three organizers. "This is not a normal New Year's reception," said Hennemann, "because it is the first time in a long time that we are meeting again in this form and not just digitally." Despite all the current challenges, the journalist looked to the future with hope and called on those present to "fill the still blank page of 2023 with letters." To this end, he identified a number of important topics, including security policy. In recent decades, society has taken many things for granted in this area. "But a democracy that cannot or will not defend itself will not survive in the long term." That is why Hennemann hopes that the Bundeswehr will once again be shown the respect and appreciation it deserves. He also hopes that people will say "yes" more often in the new year. "I have the impression that for every person who expresses an idea, there are immediately ten people who explain why this idea doesn't work." But as we live in complex times, there are usually no solutions that work immediately. That's why we need a new culture of discussion and a little more courage and desire to try something new. However, a culture of discussion also means not immediately seeing those who have a different opinion as enemies or idiots. "Because that threatens the search for the best possible compromise, which is urgently needed."
Recognition for cultural commitment
The editor-in-chief's speech was followed by the awards part of the New Year's reception. Here, Lord Mayor Frank Frühauf made up for the awarding of the City of Idar-Oberstein's sponsorship prize for art and culture for 2021 to Offener Kanal Idar-Oberstein/Herrstein e. V. The presentation of the current 2022 Culture Prize to H. Peter Brandt could unfortunately not be made due to the illness of the prizewinner and will be made up for at a later date.
Mayor Frühauf emphasized that the winners of the Culture Prize in recent years present a remarkably diverse picture of cultural activities in Idar-Oberstein. These were mainly initiated by volunteers, without whom many cultural events would not be possible. "This also applies to the Open Channel (OK), which is the supporting association of naheTV / Studio Idar-Oberstein and serves to operate and support the channel." The OK was founded in 1996 and has around 100 members. The active members of the association run the station, look after the production technology, organize seminars and workshops on media skills, studio technology and much more. "The OK is therefore the foundation of the nearby TV studio in Idar-Oberstein, without it our regional citizens' television would not exist," emphasized Mayor Frühauf. During the coronavirus pandemic, naheTV supported the local cultural scene very strongly with numerous live streams of events. The events were presented in a highly professional digital format on naheTV's website and social media channels, making cultural events accessible to people who were unable to attend. "It was above all this valuable support in difficult times that persuaded the Culture Committee to award the Open Channel the Culture Prize." In this way, the Open Channel enriches the cultural scene in the city and region immensely and for this it rightly deserves to be awarded the Idar-Oberstein City Prize for Art and Culture. The award comes with prize money of 2,500 euros, sponsored by Kreissparkasse Birkenfeld.
Bakers' guild donates New Year's pretzels
At the end of the public part of the event, there was a premiere: master baker Alfred Wenz, head of the Rhine-Nahe-Hunsrück Bakers' Guild, had baked a New Year's pretzel and presented it to Mayor Frühauf on stage. Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Minister President Malu Dreyer had previously enjoyed this baked good, which is said to bring good luck and health for the New Year. Naturally, the yeast pretzel filled with poppy seeds, nuts and marzipan was cut and tasted on stage. The unanimous verdict of all testers: it tastes excellent. The guests were also able to see this for themselves, as the New Year's pretzel naturally complemented the prepared snack at the subsequent reception in the foyer of the trade fair.