Committee proposes freedom prize for Lithuanian honorary consul in Germany

Lithuania’s Freedom Prize Commission has proposed awarding its 2026 prize to Wolfgang Hermann Freiherr von Stetten, Lithuania’s honorary consul in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, LRT reported. The Seimas, Lithuania’s parliament, will decide on the nomination in a vote.

The commission approved the proposal by a majority vote on Wednesday. Its chair, Rima Baškienė, said von Stetten helped ensure that Tomas Šernas, the only surviving witness to the Medininkai attack, was taken to Germany for treatment and rehabilitation.

After the January 13 events in 1991, von Stetten travelled to Lithuania and arranged treatment and rehabilitation in Germany for the injured, using his own initiative and funds. He also established a support fund for those affected and helped families of the victims and wounded people.

Baškienė said von Stetten supported Lithuania’s restored state, helped “wolf children” regain German citizenship and find relatives, and worked to keep the freedom of Lithuania and the other Baltic states on the German political agenda. He brought together German parliamentarians, helped establish a Baltic parliamentary friendship group and funded a Baltic information office in Bonn. He also built political support for Lithuania’s membership of NATO and the European Union.

Von Stetten has been named an honorary citizen of Kelmė and Jurbarkas. His honours for services to Lithuania include the January 13 Medal, the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas and the Order for Merits to Lithuania. In 2021, he published a book about “wolf children” and Lithuanian-German relations.

The Seimas has awarded the Freedom Prize each January 13 since 2011 to individuals and organisations for contributions to freedom and independence, human rights and democracy. The 2025 prize went to Šernas, a customs officer who survived the Medininkai tragedy and a priest of the Lithuanian Evangelical Reformed Church.