Joel Obermayer

Joel Obermayer is founder and executive director of Widen the Circle, an organization works with remembrance activists in both Germany and the United States who use history to promote healing from past injustice and to combat modern bigotry. Widen the Circle grew out of the Obermayer Awards, which were founded by his late father Arthur Obermayer in 2000 and are presented in Berlin. The awards honor German non-Jews who commemorate local Jewish communities decimated by the Nazis and fight modern antisemitism and bigotry. Joel believes that community-based remembrance has the power to profoundly change minds and attitudes.