Board of Trustees

The main task of the Foundation’s Board is to make sure that the will of the donors is observed, to take decisions on requests for large donations and to define the basic guidelines regarding promotion as well as to support the Managing Board. Chairman of the Foundation Board is Count Rupert Strachwitz, the other members are Andrea Böhm, Hermann Freudenberg, Sanem Kleff, Uta Leichsenring and Petra Lidschreiber.

Andrea Böhm is a journalist and was decisively involved in the establishment of the foundation. After living and working in the USA as a freelance journalist for different media, she now works for the newspaper DIE ZEIT in Hamburg. For many years, right-wing extremism has been a subject of her contributions and articles.

For many years, Hermann Freudenberg was the Managing Partner of Carl Freudenberg & Co. KG, a family enterprise existing for more than 150 years. In 1984, he founded the Freudenberg Foundation, and from 1984 to 2003 he was Chairman of the Board of Trustees. He died in 2010.

Sanem Kleff is the project leader of "School without Racism – School with Courage". Her goal is to develop anti-racist approaches in education and to strengthen the commitment of civil society in schools. Since 1990, she has been chairperson of the "Federal Committee for Multicultural Issues" of the Education and Science Trade Union.

Uta Leichsenring is the Director of the Halle outpost of the Bundesbeauftragte für die Unterlagen der Stasi (Federal Commission for the Records of the National Security Service of the former GDR). Before starting her new job in 2005, she was chairperson of the Barnim Uckermark Foundation, director of the police district in Eberswalde, as well as responsible for the Concept of Action for Tolerance of the state of Brandenburg. In 1999, she was awarded the Theodor Heuss Medal.

The television journalist Petra Lidschreiber leads the editorial office for Central and Eastern Europe at the Berlin and Brandenburg TV channel RBB. She was previously the editor-in-chief at the RBB, and presenter of the political program "Kontraste" and other programs by the ARD and the RBB. She also was a long-time correspondent for the ARD in New York.

Count Rupert Strachwitz is the Director of the Maecenata Institute for Philanthropy and Civil Society in Berlin. He studied history, political science and art history in the USA and worked for numerous welfare institutions: he has served as State Managing Director of the Malteser ("Order of Malta") Relief Agency in Bavaria and Vice President of the German Caritas Association.