Conversation with Stefan Schirmer and FC Ente Bagdad

Join us as we chat with winners of the 2023 Obermayer Awards. Learn more about the work, perspectives, and personal motivations of these inspiring people. We'll show a brief film, have an in-depth conversation facilitated by Widen the Circle Executive Director Joel Obermayer, and invite questions from the audience.

Stefan Schirmer has been the guiding force behind making Mainz-based German football club FC Ente Bagdad into a beacon for diversity, acceptance, and equality, as well is in helping people recognize and understand Jewish history and culture. The club organizes many popular remembrance events, particularly during Mainz Remembrance Weeks, and reaches out to “new Germans” from war-torn countries including Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine who have found refuge in Mainz. For one match, the entire team wore kippahs in solidarity with a person who had recently been attacked.