The prize can be awarded to individuals, groups of people or associations who are committed to the integration of people with a history of immigration or who have distinguished themselves through their special commitment to intercultural projects.
Before the award ceremony, the guests were treated to a varied entertainment program in the Kulturscheune. The evening's host and organizer, Dincer Dinc from the Citizens' Service for Migrants, and his team had succeeded in inviting a wide variety of artists to come to Salzgitter for the evening and perform at the "Bunte Sole". These included well-known names such as musician Sebastian Krenz - the winner of the casting show "The Voice of Germany" and the dancing couple Renata and Valentin Lusin - known from the RTL show "Let's Dance". A mixture of music and comedy was presented by the slapstick and guitar artists "Paul Morocco & Ole" from Great Britain. Berlin poetry slamer Faten El-Dabbas concluded the evening's cultural program with her expressive poems, in which she described her feelings and those of her family as refugees and migrants in Germany.
Members of the jury for this year's "Bunte Sole" were City Councillor Dr. Dirk Härdrich, Sebastian Hendris from the City of Salzgitter, Dincer Dinc as representative of the Citizens' Service for Migrants, Özcan Irkan as Chairman of the Lower Saxony Integration Council, Olaf Kleint, Head of Social Services and Senior Citizens and Douha Magouri as representative of the Youth Parliament.
The "Bunte Sole" award from the Citizens' Service for Migrants and the City of Salzgitter went this time to four women who have rendered outstanding services to the work with refugees at the SOS Mothers' Center: Kirsten Koch, Elke Streckfuß, Kirsten Brunke and Monika Petryschyn - known as the "golden four". Back in 2015, during the wave of refugees at the time, the need for low-threshold language courses was immense. The SOS Mothers' Center was very lucky because these four women offered their support.
Elke Streckfuß and Kirsten Koch were already involved in the Ziesberg School and then extended their commitment to the Mothers' Center. Kirsten Brunke and Monika Petryschyn joined via the IKO group (Integrative Competence Café) at the Mothers' Center. Three of them had taken a break from their well-earned retirement to develop language courses for women at the center. They started in April 2016, stayed until July 2019 and held 300 lessons. With the war in Ukraine, many families and women with children came to Salzgitter overnight. The Mothers' Center responded immediately and contacted the "golden four". The four prizewinners helped as a matter of course - this time for Ukrainian refugees. On April 20, the offer was made and the language courses began.
This year, however, not only the main prize "Bunte Sole" was awarded. The Citizens' Service for Migrants and the city of Salzgitter also offered two special prizes for Salzgitter schools. The 2022 winners are Kranich-Gymnasium and Gymnasium Salzgitter-Bad. Pupils from both schools were honored for their commitment against racism and for their fellow pupils who had to flee from Ukraine.
According to the jury, the daily commitment of the pupils at Kranich-Gymnasium and their many projects and activities show that the "Kraniche" promote intercultural school life and carry this intercultural idea beyond the school boundaries, in some cases beyond the city limits of Salzgitter. They stand for integration in Salzgitter, diversity, tolerance and respect. Especially with regard to the Ukrainian pupils, the "Kraniche" are committed to their education and participation.
Salzgitter-Bad secondary school was awarded the special prize for its "German-Ukrainian lunch break" project. Together with 20 pupils, teacher and integration coordinator Daniel Teevs has set up a project to help Ukrainian pupils at the school and their families integrate in Germany. Together with Teevs, the pupils offer this so-called "lunch break" every school day. There, Ukrainian pupils have the opportunity to do their homework, learn German or deal with everyday tasks with the support of the German pupils.