Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. On 28 August 2019, the Goethe Medals were presented on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s 270th birthday in a ceremony attended by about 200 international guests in Weimar. The honours went to the German-Turkish writer Doğan Akhanlı, the Iranian artist and filmmaker Shirin Neshat and the Mongolian publisher and political journalist Enkhbat Roozon.

Every year the Goethe-Institut confers the official decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany to honour figures who have performed outstanding service for international cultural dialogue. The Goethe Medals were presented under this year’s title ‘Truth and Fiction’ by the president of the GoetheInstitut Klaus-Dieter Lehmann.

In his opening address, Lehmann emphasized, “With this year’s laureates Shirin Neshat, Doğan Akhanlı and Enkhbat Roozon, we are honouring personalities who, through their work, address the conflicting poles of social reality between influence and autonomy, ignorance and culture of debate, unknowing and education, regardless of possible personal disadvantages or risks. They are exceptional examples of dedicated, responsible cultural understanding that enables new thought processes, identifies alternatives and trusts the power of culture. They are sensitive in their perception and strong in their message. Their credibility is based on their independence, not political activism.”

The publisher, bookseller and journalist Enkhbat Roozon received the Goethe Medal for his courage and strength working indefatigably for an open, critical and responsible civil society in Mongolia. In particular, he works to improve the Mongolian education system with his publications. His laudatory speaker Damian Miller, a professor at the Pädagogische Hochschule Thurgau, noted, “Education, especially public education, is not a privilege but an indispensable condition of a democracy. … From the eighteenth century onward at the latest, public means an uncompromising obligation to accountability and discourse of all exercises of state power. For this, independent, free school – public – education is needed. Enkhbat Roozon dedicates his activity exactly to this commitment.”

Enkhbat Roozon accepted the Goethe Medal by outlining the current challenges of his homeland, which needs fundamental social change. He said, “The Mongols come from a centuries-old nomadic tradition that is perfectly adapted to our extreme climatic conditions. However, today’s challenges are increasingly different ones – they are social and political. In dealing with these new challenges, we can learn from Western cultures. By that I mean in particular the tradition of the European Enlightenment.”