Commemoration Musical Commemoration of Shooting Last Year
17 January 2023
Performance of Fauré’s Requiem on 24 January – Marie Luise Jung Prize in memory of the student killed will be awarded in April for the first time
To mark the first anniversary of the gun attack early last year, Heidelberg University is hosting a musical commemoration on 24 January 2023. The programme features the Requiem in D minor, op. 48, by French composer Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924), performed by the university choir under the baton of University Music Director Michael Sekulla; the soloist at the organ is Maria Mokhova. The memorial concert, which will begin with an organ prelude by Johann Sebastian Bach, will take place in the Great Hall of the New University starting at 6 pm. On that day, St Peter’s (Peterskirche), the University Church, will be open from 10 am to 10 pm as a place of silence, mourning and prayer. Pastoral carers will be available for conversations.
Prof. Dr Bernhard Eitel, Rector of Heidelberg University: “The terrible gun attack last year has not been forgotten. It will remain engraved in the memory of the university. In particular, though, I’d like to highlight the strength and community spirit displayed after the shooting.” Heidelberg University and the Rectorate will, Prof. Eitel adds, continue to stand by all those concerned with great sympathy and care, so that the academic community can go on shouldering the consequences of the attack on 24 January 2022 together.
In memory of the student killed in the gun attack, Heidelberg University, together with the Constituted Student Body and the Doctoral Convention, have initiated a prize, which the Faculty of Biosciences will award. By arrangement with her family, the Dean of the Faculty and the bodies representing the students and doctoral candidates, the Rectorate has decided to organise an annual community day for first-year students of biosciences, to conclude with the presentation of the Marie Luise Jung Prize during an academic ceremony. It will go to an outstanding female master’s graduate who aspires to earn a doctorate and hence to remain in research. The prize will be awarded for the first time on 17 April 2023.
The state government’s commissioner for victims
Alexander Schwarz, commissioner for victims of the Baden-Württemberg state government, and his office continue to be available for contacting by all those concerned and their relatives: by phone on +49 711 / 279-2093, and via email at opferbeauftragter@jum.bwl.de
Note for newsrooms
Media representatives desiring to attend the memorial concert on 24 January 2023 should please sign up with the press office presse@rektorat.uni-heidelberg.de by 20 January. No photos, video or audio recordings are possible during the event. The memorial concert will be recorded; you can obtain the recording the next day. Photographic material will also be available. In this case, too, please approach the press office to make further arrangements.