In the presence of District Administrator Dr Theophil Gallo, Saarland Interior Minister Reinhold Jost honoured three personalities from the Saarpfalz district with the Freiherr-vom-Stein Medal: Dieter Schörkl (CDU) from St. Ingbert, Stefan Pauluhn (SPD) from Walsheim and Kurt Wannenmacher (SPD) from Erfweiler-Ehlingen, who received the award posthumously. His daughter Claudia Wannenmacher gladly accepted the invitation to the Homburg Forum to accept the medal on behalf of her recently deceased father.
District Administrator Dr Theophil Gallo began by welcoming the guests and explained: "This award from Saarland is very important, because it is about recognising and honouring true role models for our society. We need people like Dieter Schörkl, Stefan Pauluhn and Kurt Wannenmacher, who, despite increasing adversity and dissatisfaction in our society, are committed to voluntary work and even take it for granted that they will look after the concerns of their fellow human beings in their free time. What they do simply cannot be achieved through full-time work. What's more, it has to be supported by their families, as the time commitment is sometimes enormous. I would like to thank these three on behalf of the Saarpfalz district for their commitment and responsibility in helping to shape our community in the Saarpfalz district."
The Minister, who presented the medals and certificates, explained in his laudatory speech: "The people I am honouring today with the Freiherr-vom-Stein Medal have dedicated a large part of their lives to serving society. In the case of Kurt Wannenmacher, it is even fair to say that he has dedicated his entire life to this task. All three honourees have rendered great services to local politics, some of them for decades. They have worked for their fellow citizens with great commitment, passion and heart and soul. This also makes these people great role models. After all, people who dedicate their time and energy to actively working towards good co-operation form the backbone of our society.
At the end, Stefan Pauluhn expressed his thanks for the award and the words of appreciation, also on behalf of his two colleagues. The evening ended with a cosy drink and an exchange with the representatives of the state parliament and the cities and municipalities present.
The honoured:
Dieter Schörkl
As early as 1981, Dieter Schörkl took on various positions on the board of the local CDU association in Rentrisch. He was also active on the board of the town association. From 1997 to 2001, he was parliamentary group spokesman for the CDU. In 1996, Dieter Schörkl became a member of St. Ingbert town council, where he served for 27 years. One year later, he also took up his position on the Rentrisch local council for 18 years. He also served on the transport committee for three years from 1996. He was also involved in the main and personnel committee (1999 to 2014), the works committee (2000 to 2005), the holiday committee (2003 to 2004/2009 to 2014) and the culture and social committee (2009 to 2014). For 23 years, from 2001 to 2024, he also looked after the interests of the citizens of his home town of Rentrisch as local councillor. However, Dieter Schörkl was not only involved in local politics, but also in club life. He joined the Rentrisch gymnastics and sports club in 1982 and held the position of second chairman for six years. He held the same position at the hiking club for eight years. He was deputy chairman of the local heritage association for four years. He has also been a member of the board of the local history working group since 2001, the foundation board of the Protestant parish of Saarbrücken-Scheidt since it was founded in 2005 and the Rentrisch carnival club "Die Holzhauer" since 2010. He has been involved in the tennis club TC Stiefel-Rentrisch for 30 years, including six years as youth manager and second chairman.
Stefan Pauluhn
Stefan Pauluhn was a member of the Walsheim local council for a total of 33 years (1984 to 1989 and 1991 to 2019). From 1994 to 2014, he also held the office of local councillor in Walsheim. He also served on the Gersheim municipal council for 25 years (from 1989 to 2014), including ten years (1990 to 2000) as chairman of the SPD municipal council faction. He has been a member of the Saarpfalz district council since 2019. In 1999, he was elected to the state parliament for 22 years. From 2012 to 2019, he chaired the SPD parliamentary group there.
Kurt Wannenmacher (posthumously)
Kurt Wannenmacher has held numerous offices during his many years of activity in the local SPD association. From 1996 to 2014, for example, he held the position of Chairman, from 2013 to 2015 that of Secretary and from 2015 until recently that of Assessor. He was also active as an assessor in the SPD municipal association (2000 to 2015) and on the board of the Saarpfalz sub-district (2007 to 2013). He also served on the Erfweiler-Ehlingen local council for a total of 20 years (1989 to 1999 and 2014 to 2024). He was deputy chairman of the SPD 60plus in the district association from 2005 to 2008. He was then elected Chairman and was also an assessor. His term of office ended in 2013. He also chaired the "Frohsinn" Erfweiler-Ehlingen music association from 2006 to 2008 and was an active member of the Bliesknappenchor Rubenheim miners' choir.
Background:
The "Freiherr-vom-Stein Medal" is an honour awarded by the Saarland to citizens who have rendered outstanding services to local self-government. The award was established on 14 September 1989 by the Saarland Minister President. Every two years, the medal is awarded to individuals who have rendered outstanding services to local self-government in the course of their voluntary local political activities or their office.