Germany’s education ministry has announced it was suspending the award ceremony for the Federal Prize for Arts Students winner Hanna Schiller, currently in jail awaiting trial for alleged attempted murder.
On April 17, the ministry said it would halt the procedure until Schiller’s trial was over. The prize money of €3,345 – financed out of federal funds – would also not be paid out.
“The allegations are very serious. We will therefore decide on awarding the prize to Hanna S and also on the lump sum for production and photo costs of €2,400 already paid to her after there is a legally binding judgment,” the ministry said in a statement.
It said it had not previously conducted any research on the background of the 50 participants and had only learned of the accusations against Schiller on April 4.
Schiller’s honour award had sparked outrage throughout Germany. The 29-year-old from Bavaria, who was an arts student at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nuremberg, has been in pre-trial detention since May 2024.
The German attorney general has alleged she was a member of a terrorist organisation and accused her of alleged attempted murder and grievous bodily harm.
According to prosecution allegations, Schiller joined a militant left-wing extremist organisation in early 2023.
The group had allegedly set itself the goal of “using violence against members of the right-wing political spectrum”. On February 11, 2023, it allegedly committed at least five attacks on supposed right-wingers in Budapest.
Schiller allegedly participated in at least two of the attacks during which her group allegedly followed their victims and then attacked them with batons and other tools, earning them the moniker “hammer gang” in the German press.
The victims – who were also said to have been maced after being battered – suffered skull lacerations and bruises.
The charges against Schiller were published in October 2024.
Despite that, in February 2025 she was awarded the German Federal Prize for Arts Students together with seven other young artists. The decision was published on March 25.
The prize awarded biannually came with €30,000 in prize money plus €18,000 for preparing works of art for the winners’ exhibition, which this year was set to open on November 6 in Bonn.
Schiller’s work included a chain knotted from paper torn out of law books and a doormat weaved out of women’s hair.
Stefanie Kleefeld, manager of Kunstverein Bremerhaven and one of the three members of the prize-judging panel, praised her “artistic practice” that dealt with “current socio-political issues such as the growing shift to the right, the refugee crisis and structural sexism”.
Schiller’s works were characterised by “fragility and sensitivity”, Kleefeld added.
Brussels Signal contacted Kleefeld for comment without reply.
The Nuremberg Academy of Arts did not respond to requests for comment.
A university speaker had previously told State broadcaster BR24 that Schiller “was selected purely on the basis of professional and artistic criteria”.
