IN MEMORY OF PETER KRÄMER (1950-2017)

The foundation mourns the philanthropist Peter Krämer.

On June 20, after a prolonged illness at the age of 66 years, the well-known Hamburg shipowner and philanthropist Peter Krämer passed away. With Peter Krämer, the Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt Foundation – and in particular the Willy-Brandt-House Lübeck – is losing an important supporter, who has worked for many years for the ideals of Willy Brandt and the goals of the foundation.

Fortune always meant a special social obligation for Peter Krämer. Above all, to improve the situation in the poorer countries of the world, he promoted education and emancipation of the people living there. Willy Brandt’s commitment to equalize in the “North-South conflict” and for “One World” has always been an inspiration for him. Thus, the so-called “Red Shipowner” made a decisive contribution to the fact that around 1,500 schools were built and 28 million children were reached in Africa as part of the “Schools for Africa” ​​project he founded. Until his death, around 200 million US dollars were mobilized by him for the project. In addition, Peter Krämer founded the Hamburg Society for the Promotion of Democracy and International Law in 2004.

The economic crisis from 2008 onwards did not lead to a decline in his social commitment, and so Peter Krämer actively supported our work in the last ten years. For several years in a row he was the sole sponsor of the Willy-Brandt speech Lübeck. He gladly used the annual event in the Lübeck Coliseum to promote his philanthropic ideas and projects.

The Chancellor Willy Brandt Foundation will always gratefully remember the memory of Peter Krämer and express his deepest sympathy to his family and relatives.