Mechthild Schreiber was very closely associated with our association from the very beginning, even though she was not among the founding members.
At the general meeting on 2015-03-27, she was formally admitted as a member, and at the general meeting on 2017-03-27, she was elected to the association’s board. She then served on the board without interruption until the general meeting on 2024-04-13, where she was unanimously elected honorary chairwoman of the association.
Among her many important contributions to our association, I would like to mention just a few of her most recent ones: For the celebration of the 20th anniversary of our first “Call for a Change in the Security Conference” in April 2024, she played a significant role in the preparation and also moderated the event. Most recently, in July 2024, we were able to meet at her home for a pleasant evening of political discussions on her terrace. A few days ago, Mechthild passed away at the age of 94 – quite suddenly and unexpectedly for us.
Mechthild was – with her sociology studies and her intensive engagement with women’s research and feminism – a clever and widely informed woman. We lose a very credible pacifist, a courageous and upright fighter for the cause of peace. Her dedicated contributions will be greatly missed!
In February 2021, Mechthild wrote in one of her regular contributions to our annual project newspaper – which she had also very credibly presented in a conversation with MSC Conference Director W. Ischinger:
“I know what war means, as I experienced it painfully as a child: the wailing of sirens that tore us from our sleep, the thunder of the FLAK, the anti-aircraft guns, the anxious hours in the cellar during air raids: will it hit us this time? Or will we still escape? The incendiary bombs that one night actually destroyed our apartment in Berlin, the familiar home of my childhood; the loss of my father, who never returned from a trip to our pastor, and whose abduction and death in a Polish prisoner-of-war camp my mother and I only learned about two years later… For many years, the people said: ‘Never again war!’ And today it can only mean: ‘Si vis pacem para pacem!’ If you want peace, prepare for peace!”
Further information on Mechthild’s life and commitment can be found via the following links:
In memoriam Mechthild Schreiber, Peace Activist
forumZFD – Farewell to a Peace Fighter
Cultural regulars’ table with Mechthild Schreiber
The members of the “Changing the Munich Security Conference” Project Group e.V. will always fondly remember their long-standing chairwoman and honorary chairwoman Mechthild Schreiber.
Mechthild, we will miss you!
Munich, 2024-10-11
Thomas Mohr
Chairman