Alexandra Hildebrandt

Alexandra Hildebrandt
US Ambassador William Timken and Alexandra Hildebrandt at Checkpoint Charlie
Born
Alexandra Weissmann

27 February 1959
Kyiv, Ukraine, USSR
Occupation(s)Director of the Checkpoint Charlie Museum
human rights activist
Spouse(s)Rainer Hildebrandt
Daniel Dormann

Alexandra Hildebrandt (née Weissmann, born on 27 February 1959)[1][2] is a German human rights activist and museum director of the Checkpoint Charlie Museum.[3] In 1995, she married the museum's co-founder and former director Rainer Hildebrandt, and they remained married until his death in 2004.[4] She is internationally noted for leading the construction of the Freedom Memorial, which was controversially demolished in 2005.[5] The focus of Alexandra Hildebrandt's work is the preservation and advancement of the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, the rehabilitation of the victims of the GDR-Regime, and the clarification of more destinies of refugees who suffered death at the East–west border. In 2004, she endowed the international human rights award, the Dr. Rainer Hildebrandt Medal, which is given annually in recognition of extraordinary, non-violent commitment to human rights.[6]

From 2010 until 2013, Hildebrandt worked to secure the release of oligarch turned political activist, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Initially she started with an exhibition in her Checkpoint Charlie Museum, to raise awareness about the fate of Khodorkovsky after Khodorkovsky's lawyers and family asked her for help. Eventually, she involved former German Foreign Secretary, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, in her international campaign to free Khodorkovsky. In 2013, Khodorkovsky was released from prison after serving some ten years.[7]

Hildebrandt remarried in 2016 and has eight children.[8]

  1. ^ "Zur Person: Alexandra Hildebrandt". Berliner Morgenpost (in German). 7 November 2004. Retrieved 22 April 2018.
  2. ^ "Ein Leben wider das Vergessen". Berliner Morgenpost (in German). Berlin, Germany. 10 June 2008. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
  3. ^ Wagner, Susan L. (11 November 2009). "Wayland filmmaker present screening of new work". Wayland Town Crier. Wayland, MA. Archived from the original on 8 November 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
  4. ^ Richter, Christine (10 January 2004). "Der Freiheitskämpfer". Berliner Zeitung (in German). Berlin, Germany. Archived from the original on 20 October 2009. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
  5. ^ "Berlin Demolishes Cold War Memorial on July 4" (Press release). Republicans Abroad International. 24 June 2005. Archived from the original on 21 July 2009. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
  6. ^ "International award for the cause of human rights". Archived from the original on 5 October 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  7. ^ Kelly, Michelle Martin, Lidia (26 December 2013). "Inside Germany's campaign to free Khodorkovsky". Reuters. Retrieved 7 January 2021.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Kittan, Tomas (15 August 2020). "Chefin des Berliner Mauermuseums bekam mit 61 Jahren ihr 8. Kind". www.bz-berlin.de. Retrieved 7 January 2021.