Who we are
Advisory Council
The Foundation Office is supported and supervised by the Advisory Council, which provides assistance in both strategic and operational decisions. It provides independent guidance so that the Hans and Berthold Finkelstein Foundation will continue to thrive. The Council is a group of esteemed individuals from various backgrounds, including recognized civil society leaders and academic experts, along with Bayer company executives.
Each member is committed to providing their unique perspective and expertise to ensure that the Foundation has a meaningful impact on the future of remembrance culture. The Council shares the common goal of promoting education, dialog, and understanding about the Second World War and its enduring impacts on society – today and tomorrow.
Annette Schavan
Chairwoman of the Advisory Council
“With the Hans and Berthold Finkelstein Foundation, Bayer is actively contributing to a culture of remembrance. The story of the Finkelsteins moved me deeply, and I am humbled to take part in this important endeavor honoring their legacy.”
Annette Schavan has enjoyed a long and successful career as a politician, first at state level in Baden-Wurttemberg and later as Federal Minister of Education and Research. She was a member of the German Bundestag from 2005 to 2014.
Since 2019 she has been chairwoman of the board of trustees of the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future” (EVZ), an organization founded by the Federal Government and German companies to keep the memory of National Socialist persecution alive, in particular through work for human rights and international understanding.
Fighting the recurring danger of hate, discrimination and violence through education
Annette Schavan has been dedicated to the German education system and forming a culture of remembrance throughout her entire career, something she is continuing at the Hans and Berthold Finkelstein Foundation. Annette Schavan, a Roman Catholic, has always emphasized the theological dimension in her life. Faith can provide support and meaning in times of uncertainty.
Remembering and educating about the time of National Socialist crimes and their consequences has always mattered to Annette Schavan. However, she believes that remembrance is a continuous process and that our culture of remembrance must invariably adapt.
Heike Prinz
Member of the Board of Management and Director of Human Resources at Bayer AG
"With the Hans and Berthold Finkelstein Foundation, Bayer is also intensively confronting the dark chapters in its more than 160-year history. Because they are part of our moral responsibility that arises from the past. The lessons we can learn from discrimination, disenfranchisement and persecution during the Nazi era can only consist in doing everything in our power to prevent such tendencies from emerging and to stand up firmly for democracy, tolerance and equality in the company and in society."
Heike Prinz was born on September 24, 1964 in Kirchen (Sieg), Germany. She studied business administration at the Berlin School of Economics and Law, where she obtained a degree in business administration.
Prinz joined what was then Schering AG in 1986, which was taken over by Bayer in 2006, and held various marketing and sales positions in the women's health sector. In 2009, she took over the management of the Asia/Pacific region for women's health at Bayer (South East Asia) Pte. Ltd. in Singapore and was promoted to Country Division Head for the Pharmaceuticals Division in Thailand and Cambodia in 2011. In 2013, Prinz became Chief of Staff for the Head of Pharmaceuticals at Bayer Pharma AG in Berlin.
In 2015, Prinz moved to Bayer Yakuhin Ltd. in Japan, where she initially took over the management of the Cardiovascular and Neurology division and was appointed President and Representative Director in 2017.
In October 2021, Prinz returned to Berlin and has since headed Commercial Operations EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) of Bayer's Pharmaceuticals Division.
Ruediger Borstel
Historian, employee in the historical Bayer Archive (2000 until 2024)
For me, studying Hans and Berthold Finkelstein and fighting against forgetting their tragic fates has been and continues to be a very personal contribution for more than a quarter of a century against all kinds of discrimination, exclusion and even the physical and psychological destruction of victims of National Socialism and the IG Farben industry that cooperated with it.
Hans and Berthold Finkelstein's ordeal is symptomatic of the inhumane acts of IG Farben during the National Socialist era against Jews, people of Jewish descent and those excluded and persecuted for other reasons during that time. My aim is to give them all a voice and to protect them from collective oblivion. Only if you reconstruct the few fates from that time that are still tangible, keep them alive and remember them, will you be resilient enough to face the challenges, hatred and anti-Semitic tendencies that are emerging again today and really learn from "history"; but also actively counteract them.
We owe this to the victims of that time, especially to Hans and Berthold Finkelstein. That is why I consider the work of the Hans and Berthold Finkelstein Foundation with its diverse research and memorial projects on IG Farben and Nazi history to be so important and why I am happy to work with it.
Bella Zchwiraschwili
Member of the Advisory Council
“The story of Hans and Berthold Finkelstein is a story of suffering, and yet also of the indestructible power to make the world a better place. Berthold’s bravery and resilience in the face of unimaginable horrorsin particular serve as a testament to the enduring power of the human spirit. His attitude is something deeply enrooted in Judaism, and I am proud to support the endeavors of the Hans and Berthold Finkelstein Foundation.”
Bella Zchwiraschwili has devoted her life to building and strengthening the Jewish community ans its infrastructure in Germany. She is the director of Stakeholder Engagement for Germany at the World Jewish Congress (WJC). There she also holds the role of a manager of #WeRemember campaign, where Bayer and Finkelstein Foundation take part annualy. Bella Zchwiraschwili previously worked as director of the Pears Jewish Campus in Berlin, home to the Hans Finkelstein Wing. For eleven years she was chief of staff for several heads of the Jewish Community of Berlin, the largest community in Germany.
As a professional events manager, she advised and supported various Jewish institutions to develop events and formats at the intersection of Holocaust education and remembrance, modern Jewish life and combatting anti-Semitism. She organized expert symposiums for the Central Council of German Jews and the famous Hannukah celebrations at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate.
An advocate for good
Bella Zchwiraschwili has pledged herself to increasing the positive associations people have with Jews in Germany. In 2022, Bella was honored by German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier for her voluntary commitment and contributions to making Jewish life more visible in Germany.
Bella believes in the power of integration and has always encouraged meaningful interaction between different communities. Through encounters, individuals can foster a mutual understanding and respect, learn from each other, share their experiences, and build stronger relationships.
Making sure that we keep memory alive is very important to Bella Zchwiraschwili. It is her conviction that we must not remain silent, so that history cannot be repeated - not ever.
Johannes Finkelstein
Co-Chair of the Advisory Council
“What happened to my father Berthold and his father Hans has always been a part of my life, my identity. I have always admired my father’s strength, courage, and dedication to fight for good, despite all that happened to him. It is with pride and humility that I support the Hans and Berthold Finkelstein Foundation to make my family’s legacy a continuous and conducive part of a culture of remembrance to prevent suffering and humiliation – today and tomorrow”.
Johannes Finkelstein is the son of Berthold Finkelstein and was born in Bonn in 1967. Johannes, today a Cologne-based architect, studied in Braunschweig and Zürich and has been developing projects in and around Cologne for 23 years. For Johannes Finkelstein, buildings – whether newly constructed or restored – are a means of communication and they must contribute to a better and more sustainable world.
Politically literate since childhood
Johannes’ father Berthold Finkelstein’s engagement in strengthening international understanding and his commitment to a European ideal – long before the idea of a united Europe was born – shaped Johannes’ childhood and young adult life. Berthold raised Johannes as a guardian of peace, which could only be achieved through education and encounters with people from other countries and cultures.
Fighting for good – despite trauma
The repercussions and trauma from the Second World War played a role in his everyday family life. The traumatic experiences of the war were taboo topics. His grandfather’s death was barely ever talked about, no were his father’s experiences as a forced laborer at I.G. Farben – despite the efforts of his relatives’. Even though the topic was not addressed, however, the history became a crucial element of his family identity. The Foundation helps to honor the Finkelstein legacy and promote tolerance and reconciliation so that fates like those of his father’ and grandfather’ can be remembered.
Honoring a legacy – to learn
Honoring the contributions of his father and grandfather has mattered to Johannes Finkelstein his entire life. His memories will guide the Foundation’s work to make every story about Hans and Berthold tangible.
Piotr Setkiewicz
Member of the Advisory Council
“The fates of Hans and Berthold Finkelstein show the horrors that the Nazis brought upon people. It is our duty to prevent indifference through factual research. The more stories we tell, the more details we know, and the more we will be able to better remember to do our part so that history cannot be repeated.”
Piotr Setkiewicz was born in 1963 and currently serves as the director of the Research Center at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Oświęcim (Auschwitz), Poland. He studied history in Kraków and earned his Ph.D. for his research work on the I.G. Farben plant in Auschwitz. Setkiewicz is the head historian at the Auschwitz Museum and editor-in-chief of the scientific publication “The Auschwitz Journals” (Zeszyty Oświęcimskie). Setkiewicz has been awarded several Polish state honors for his work - the Silver Cross of Merit, the Medal for Merit to Culture “Gloria Artis”, the Silver Medal “Guardian of National Memorials” and the Silver Medal for Long Service.
Dedication beyond duty
Piotr Setkiewicz has spent his entire career conducting research on the Holocaust. His contributions to continuously shedding light on the crimes and system of the Nazis and educating people on both of these has been a pillar of remembrance. His work and knowledge on the beginnings of Auschwitz, the employment of forced and slave laborers in German industry and the history of the Auschwitz sub-camps have deepened our understanding and help ensure that the memory of those who suffered and died in the camp is never forgotten.
Establishing facts as a foundation of remembrance
Even today, research on Auschwitz is uncovering new information about the camp’s operations. Finding and understanding every detail of what exactly happened in the largest German complex of concentration and extermination camps is a continuous process. As the culture of remembrance evolves, we need to join efforts to improve our understanding of the horrors of the Third Reich and how they came about, to strengthen the ability of society to never forget.
A space for research
As an advocate for the importance of research of the Third Reich and its consequences, education and remembrance, Piotr Setkiewicz will help to create a space within the Hans and Berthold Finkelstein Foundation for survivors and their descendants to share their stories.
Dr. Sara Berger
Member of the Advisory Board
“It is imperative that we embrace remembrance culture so that the terror and crimes of the Nazi Regime cannot be repeated. During the collaboration with Bayer, I became aware of Bayer’s deep commitment to actively contributing to a culture of remembrance through the newly established Foundation. I am honored to share my expertise as part of the Hans and Berthold Finkelstein Foundation.”
Dr. Sara Berger has been working at the Fritz Bauer Institute as a research assistant since 2020 and is responsible for the Institute’s exhibitions. Dr. Berger studied history, social psychology, and Italian literature in Bochum and received her doctorate with a study on the extermination camps of "Aktion Reinhardt". Since 2009, she has conceptualized and organized several exhibitions at the Fondazione Museo della Shoah in Rome, including events on Auschwitz, the ghettos in Poland, and the persecution of Jews in Italy.
A mission to remember
Dr. Sara Berger dedicates her academic work to research relating to the history of the persecution of Jews in Europe with a focus on Italy, as well as forms of resilience, perpetrator analyses, and the history of the trials of violent Nazi crimes.
Dr. Sara Berger is committed to these topics on a scientific and an artistic level, and has been awarded the Wilhelm-Hollenberg-Preis for her dissertation as well as the Sybil Halpern Milton Memorial Book Prize of the German Studies Association for her book “Experten der Vernichtung”. Dr. Sara Berger is engaged in raising public awareness and making a valuable contribution to sustaining remembrance culture by delivering a series of lectures in Italy and Germany.
Dr. Monika Lessl
Member of the Advisory Council
"The Hans and Berthold Finkelstein Foundation is committed to freedom and diversity of opinion and is against anti-Semitism, racism and intolerance of all kinds. It is an honor for me to support these essential goals with my expertise from the Bayer Science & Education and the Bayer Cares Foundation".
Monika Lessl is Senior Vice President, Head of Corporate R&D and Social Innovation at Bayer AG, Executive Director of the Bayer Foundation and a Board Member of Marienhaus GmbH und Futurium GmbH. Her focus is on driving organizational and societal transformation by strengthening the role of science and promoting innovation and sustainability through strategic initiatives, governance processes and partnerships.
Moreover, Monika Lessl is a Board member of the Futurium, Berlin’s museum of the future, and acts as a jury member of the European Innovation Council and the German Ministry of Science and Education. She holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin, a Diploma in General Management from Ashridge Business School, London and is a former fellow of the Robert Bosch Foundation. In addition to her research work, she has published a number of articles on collaborative innovation, entrepreneurship and business transformation in leading journals such as the Harvard Business Review. She and her team were finalists for the “Master of Reinvention Award” of London Business School” in 2018 and “the Best Innovation Team Award” by Fast Company in 2020.
Thomas Helfrich
Member of the Advisory Council
“It is my mission to make a commitment to diversity through embracing remembrance culture and responsible leadership in our projects. As a company, we have the responsibility to help avoid the mistakes of the past and create a better future for all.”
Thomas Helfrich is head of Corporate Positioning (which includes Corporate Branding, Arts & Culture, Sports & Heritage Communications) at Bayer. Coming from an artistically formative background in performing arts from the Academy of Arts Ulm and international stage engagement, Thomas Helfrich has gained 20 years of work experience as a journalist and presenter in radio and television in Germany and abroad, including at Deutsche Welle TV and Bloomberg TV.
The impact of culture
Today, as a culture manager, Thomas Helfrich is dedicated to further involving Bayer AG in cultural activities and deepening the commitments to cultural sponsorship it has made since 1907. His background and dedication enable and drive him to establish a heightened awareness and sharpen the company’s work on remembrance culture – especially in the fight against anti-Semitism, racism and intolerance of all kinds.
Luca Schneider
Member of the Advisory Council
“When I was younger, I witnessed people around me becoming victims of discrimination. I deeply dismiss unjust treatment or intolerance in all contexts. That’s why I continue to take steps against any form of discrimination – both in my profession and in my voluntary work. And education holds immense potential in this field.”
Luca Schneider works as a chemical laboratory technician at Bayer and holds the role of Youth and Trainee Representative in the Bayer Works Council.
Dedication to education – leaving a lasting impact
Luca Schneider has been actively involved in voluntary services as a functionary in the trade union since 2017 and works as a youth education officer. Luca believes in personal responsibility and wants to actively contribute to a better future. His aim is to empower young people through the valuable tool of education, and his primary objective is to stand up against discrimination.
Matthias Berninger
Member of the Advisory Council
"By establishing the Foundation and honoring the story of the Finkelsteins, we remember the past, reflect on the known and unknown cruelties of I.G. Farben and keep the memory alive to help prevent any of this happening again in the future. It is also a contribution to the fight for freedom and diversity of thought."
Matthias Berninger was born in 1971 and currently serves as Executive Vice President of Public and Government Affairs and Head of Sustainability at Bayer. After finishing his studies in chemistry and political science in Kassel in 1994, he became the youngest ever Member of the German Bundestag and was reelected as a Member of the German Federal Parliament three times. Matthias Berninger represented the Green Party of his home state of Hessen, focusing on agricultural reform in Germany and Europe including trade policy, food safety and renewable energy. He was appointed Vice‐Minister for the Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection, Nutrition and Agriculture and led the Green Party in Hessen, Germany, from 2004 to 2007.
After retiring from his Federal Parliament seat in 2007, he joined Mars Europe and, from 2011, led its global public affairs organization and was instrumental in developing Mars’ sustainability strategy. In his role as Head of Public Affairs, Science, Sustainability and Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) at Bayer, he leads the development of a coherent global sustainability strategy.
Preserving the memory
Independent research projects will be carried out dedicated to remembrance culture, focusing particularly on investigating the topic of forced labor at I.G. Farben. Remembrance and learning for the future are inseparable; Matthias Berninger believes in the potential and importance of the Hans and Berthold Finkelstein Foundation’s work for everyone, especially since only very few witnesses are still among us, and too many other people are trying to erase history.
Dr. Jörg Lüer
Member of the Advisory Council
"Honoring the legacy of Hans and Berthold Finkelstein is both a mission and our duty. Remembering what happened in Germany during the Nazi reign of terror is one pillar on which to build a more just and peaceful society."
Dr. Jörg Lüer, born in 1965, studied modern history, Catholic theology, and political science in Münster and Berlin. From 2005 to 2008 he was Secretary General of Justitia et Pax Europe. Since 2009, he has been the Deputy Chairman of the Maximilian Kolbe Foundation, and Executive Director of the German Commission Justitia et Pax since 2018.
Since the 1990s, as a long-standing member of the board of the “Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste”, as well as a member of the foundation board of “Stiftung Flucht Vertreibung Versöhnung”, Jörg Lüer has devoted his life to working for dialog and reconciliation in post-war Europe.
Reconciliation is a complex endeavor
Jörg Lüer has been advocating for a culture of remembrance throughout the different stages of his career. He believes that reconciliation requires a true understanding of the pain that the victims and their descendants are suffering. Only if we can help them express their pain will the confrontation with the past promote the necessary healing process for all parties involved.
Through trust-building encounters, individuals can confront the harmful historic burdens that have been hindering reconciliation processes across nations and societies. The past, especially the violent past of Nazi Germany, still has an influence on our actions today. We must acknowledge this influence and thoroughly understand the historical developments so that we can actively handle current challenges.
