Sonnenschein Medal – Growing Together
In 1978, the Board of Directors created the “Sonnenschein Medal – Growing Together” to honour individuals who have made the idea of saving as many children as possible from the fate of lifelong disability through early diagnosis, early therapy and early social integration their own.
The design for this medal was created by Ms Ingrid Glüder, art teacher at the integrative Montessori schools in the Munich Children’s Centre. She based the design of the medal on the joint education of disabled and non-disabled children by depicting a stylised adult holding out his right hand to a stylised healthy child and his left hand to a stylised wheelchair child. The reverse of the medal features the classic sunshine emblem with head and shadow.
The first award winner was the Bavarian Minister President Dr h. c. Alfons Goppel. He had so embraced the idea of saving as many children as possible from the fate of lifelong disability through early diagnosis, early therapy and early social integration that he persuaded the district of Upper Bavaria to take over the outpatient clinic and hospital for the Munich Children’s Centre as a partner of the university.
The second prizewinner, Mrs Margarete Aurin, founded the world’s first Montessori kindergarten in Munich, where children with multiple and various disabilities are educated together with non-disabled children.
One of the first recipients of the Sunshine Medal was the Bavarian State Minister Anton Jaumann, who, as former State Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, ensured that the University’s Research Centre for Social Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine was allocated four positions in the Bavarian state budget from a special fund, thus creating the basis for its own university institute.
One of the first recipients of the award was the journalist Mrs Karin Friedrich in Munich, with whose help the idea of developmental rehabilitation was journalistically supported and reached large parts of Bavaria and Germany via the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Finally, Mrs Anna Wolf, who as Professor Hellbrügge’s secretary bore the brunt of the office work, was also honoured.
The next “Sunshine Medal” winners in 1979 were deserving personalities whose programme had a decisive influence on the concept of developmental rehabilitation:
Dr Karel Bobath and his wife Bertha, who created new hope for spastic paralysed children in London,
Dr Vaclav Vojta, Prague, later Munich, whose method made a decisive contribution to improving early diagnosis and early therapy for children with motor disorders,
Dr Mario Montessori Sr, who recognised the importance of the new approach in Munich from the perspective of the Association Montessori Internationale, i.e. international Montessori education, and wrote in our guest book in January 1971: “Piu che una speranza e’una promessa” (“No longer just a hope, but already a mission”).
The names of these personalities describe the range of those who were given the honour of receiving the “Sunshine Medal – Growing Together” in the following years. Personalities who have rendered outstanding services to the Munich Children’s Centre itself and personalities whose programmes have made a significant contribution to the promotion of early diagnosis, early therapy and early social integration.
Last winners of the “Medal – Growing Together” 2016
The THEODOR HELLBRÜGGE FOUNDATION
awarded in recognition of special merits in helping children with multiple and various disabilities
Mr. Stephan Siegenthaler
the “Medal – Growing Together”.
Since 2009, Mr. Stephan Siegenthaler has made a significant contribution to bringing new friends and supporters to our work, our tasks and goals to help disabled or at-risk children and their parents through his participation in the benefit concerts for the Theodor Hellbrügge Foundation.
Together with the Stamitz Quartet from Prague, he performed in eight concerts for our foundation. Without exception, these were all artistic events in Munich and represented festive highlights in our busy and worry-filled everyday lives for our friends, but especially for our often long-suffering parents.
Through the benefit concerts with the Stamitz Quartet, which are now popular in Munich, he has made an unusual contribution to spreading the idea of the Theodor Hellbrügge Foundation – to save as many children as possible from the fate of lifelong disability through early diagnosis, early therapy and early social integration – used. His music also gave the Arnold Lucius Gesell Prize ceremony a special shine.
The Theodor Hellbrügge Foundation speaks in favor of this effort
We would like to express our deep gratitude to Mr. Stephan Siegenthaler and thank him for this
Work for the benefit of the children
“Medal-Growing Together”.
Munich, November 2016
Prof. Dr. Volker Mall Dr. Heinrich Wackerbauer
Board of Trustees
The THEODOR HELLBRÜGGE FOUNDATION
awarded in recognition of special services to helping children with multiple and various disabilities
Mr. Arwed Müller
the “Medal – Growing Together”
Mr. Arwed Müller has headed the state-recognized Integrative Montessori School of Aktion Sonnenschein Thuringia since 1998. Closely linked to the concern of the common education of disabled and non-disabled children, he has since then focused on raising the profile of this educational institution and has thus made a significant contribution to establishing the idea of integration in the educational system of the state of Thuringia.
This commitment has led, among other things, to the fact that instructions for the practical implementation of school inclusion, which are carried out by the Erfurt Montessori School and Aktion Sonnenschein Thüringen eV, are also part of the program for educators at state schools provided by the Thuringian Institute for Teacher Training, Curriculum Development and Media (ThILLM). recognized further training.
His successful work made it possible to found another integrative Montessori school in Nohra, which as the “Theodor Hellbrügge School” feels particularly connected to the concerns of our foundation.
Arwed Müller’s initiative led to the founding of an integrative Montessori kindergarten and an integrative primary school in Lviv (Western Ukraine), which was preceded by years of knowledge transfer to the teachers working there and the establishment of a professional interdisciplinary structure.
Through intensive knowledge exchange with Montessori educators in Krakow (Poland), which he motivated his employees to undertake, Arwed Müller was able to consolidate, renew and expand the Theodor Hellbrügge Foundation’s existing working relationships with experts from both countries.
Through his persistent and committed work in the field of Montessori education, Mr. Arwed Müller has made a significant and lasting contribution to promoting and expanding the idea of joint education for disabled and non-disabled children. In doing so, he helped the children and their families. He has become a role model and pacesetter for the idea of inclusion for his employees and numerous educators at home and abroad.
The board and the board of trustees of the Theodor Hellbrügge Foundation speak for these achievements
Mr. Arwed Müller
his heartfelt thanks and appreciation.
Munich, June 2016
Prof. Dr. Volker Mall Dr. med. Friedemann Schulze
Board of Trustees
Previous recipients of the Sunshine Medal (from 1978)
Prime Minister a. D.Dr. hc Alfons Goppel (†) , Munich; Ms. Margarete Aurin (†) , Garmisch; State Minister Anton Jaumann (†) , Munich; Prof. Dr. med. Johannes Pechstein (†) , Mainz; Ms. Anna Wolf (†) , Munich; Ms. Karin Friedrich, Munich; Dr. Mario Montessori Sr. (†) , Amsterdam; Miss Dr. Tutula Nanakos, Thessaloniki; Dr. med. Vaclav Vojta (†) , Munich; Dr. med. Karel Bobath, London; Ms MUDr. Maria Damborska (†) , Luhacovice/CSSR; Miss Dr. med. Elisabeth Köng, Berne; Fau Primaria Dr. med. Margit Hochleitner, Linz; Manfred Helfrecht, Alexandersbad; Father Peter Heidrich (†) , Tokyo; Dr. med. Junjiro Nishimoto, Hiroshima; Prof. Dr. med. Shunji Murachi, Nagoya; Ms. Provincial Councilor Waltraud Gebert-Deeg (†) , Bozen; Dr. med. Diego Uvietta, Bolzano; Prof. Dr. med. Rodolfo Castillo-Morales, Cordoba; Ms. Susanna Schmid-Giovannini, Zurich; Ms. Gertrud Orff, Munich; Bernhard Uffrecht, Munich; Prof. Wolfgang Sawallisch, Munich; Prof. Dr. phil. Ernst J. Kiphard (†) , Frankfurt; Siegfried Stocker, Munich; Dr. Antonius van Uden, Sint Micheslgestel / Holland; Ms. Prof. Dr. phil. Marianne Frostig (†) , Los Angeles; Prof. Armin Löwe (†) , Heidelberg; Martin Tietz Foundation (directors JB Marstaller and Dr. Peter Marxer), Vaduz/Liechtenstein; Professor Emma Plank (†) , Cleveland-Vienna; Ms. Christa Meves, Uelzen; Prof. Dr. med. Robert Beckmann, Freiburg; Ms. Helma Hassenstein, Freiburg; Prof. Dr. Martin Maneke, Hanover; Ludwig Beck am Rathauseck Feldmeier GmbH, Munich; Prof. Hans Stadlmair, Munich; Ms. Katharina Kalthoff, Munich; Yoav Talmi, Tel Aviv; Notary Fritz Kader, Munich; Ms. Gerda Maria Dürsch, Munich; Miss Dr. Dr. Marie Meierhofer (†) , Zurich; Miss Dr. Maria Drewniak, Krakow; Ms. IB Langlotz and Josef Langlotz (†); District Council President Georg Klimm, Munich; Miss Dr. med. Renate Koeberich, Frankfurt; Senior Director of Studies Alfred Kindermann, Munich; Prof. Dr. Yongpal Ahn (†) , Seoul; Miss Dr. med. Anna Alisjahbana, Bandung/Indonesia; Prof. Dr. med. Hubert Haberfellner, Innsbruck; Ms. Brigitte Ockel (†) , Munich; Ms. Vijaya Varadarajan, Bangalo/India; Concertmaster Heinrich Klug, Munich; Ms. Lore Anderlik, Munich; Ms. Prof. Dr. Shizuku Harumi, Tokyo; Alois Glück, Munich; Father Felix Kurichiaparmbil, Trivandrum/India; Miss Dr. med. Siegrun from Loh, Bandung/Indonesia; Ms. Maria Roth, Munich; Prof. Dr. Vytautas Basys, Vilnius/Lithuania; Prof. Dr. Ladislav Soltés (†) , Bratislava/Slovak Republic; Miss Dr. Alexandra Nikolaou-Papanagiotou, Athens; Ms. Brigitte Salcher, Brixen, South Tyrol; Mr. Burghart Stremitzer, Brixen, South Tyrol; Mr. Attorney Dr. Guido Braun, Munich; Mr. Director Johann Fahn, Munich; Mr. Director Heinz Kerkmann, Munich; Former Minister of State Dr. Hildegard Hamm-Brücher, Munich on the 30th anniversary; Miss Dr. Veronica Delgado, Valparaiso/Chile; Dr. med. Friedemann Schulze, Erfurt; Miss Dr. med. Ingrid Weinke, Mecklenburg/Western Pomerania; Ms. Brigitte Schumann, Munich Children’s Center; Ms. Prof. Dr. Mariella Koltsova, St. Petersburg; Ms. Gundega Tomele, Liepaja; Ms. Ausrele Matukeviciute, Vilnius; Ms Lyudmila Sirotinina, Moscow; Miss Dr. Jordanka Piskova, Plovdiv; Ms. Brigitte Pietsch; Professor Dr. Burkhard Schneeweiß, Berlin; Sir Colin Davis; Stamitz Quartet Prague; Dr. Jaroslav Sturma; Prof. Dr. Father Karl Luhmer (†) , Tokyo/Japan; Prof. Dr. Faina Ratner, Kazan/Russia; Ms. Elzbieta Zabiegaj, Krakow/Poland; Prof. MUDr. Jiri Dunovsky, Budweis/Czech Republic; Prof. Dr. Evgenij Genev, Plovdiv/Bulgaria; Helga and Herbert Renner Foundation, Herrsching; Prof. Dr. med. Helmut Patzer (†) , Erfurt; Miss Dr. Schnitzler-Fink, Chile; Ms. Kozelkova, St. Petersburg; Mr. Univ. Prof. Dr. med. Dr. hc Hubertus von Voß, Munich; Dr. Valdis Folkmanis, Riga/Latvia; Ms. Hannelore Joanni, Munich; Ms. Nina Opmane, Riga/Latvia; Mr. Director Atis Peičs, University of Riga/Latvia; Mr. Arwed Müller, Erfurt; Mr. Stephan Siegenthaler, Switzerland;