A sign of moral courage
Vincent Beyer, Maja Feil, Magdalena Kaden, Clemens Michael and Jeremy Ulbricht heard the fire alarm going off not far away and dialled the emergency number. They ran into the building, began initial fire-fighting efforts and helped to bring the residents of the affected care home to safety.
The 19-year-olds were attending a training course as part of their Federal Voluntary Service with the Red Cross in Chemnitz and were on a break at the time. The young people are from Dohna, Meissen, Neustadt in Saxony and Haselbachtal. They are not familiar with Chemnitz. “We heard the beeping and saw smoke coming from the window. It only became clear that it was a care home when we looked up our location on Google Maps for the control centre,” reports Vincent Beyer.
And then everything happened very quickly. They split up: some waited outside for the fire brigade to arrive, whilst others ran into the care home. They alerted the staff, who had already begun taking initial action, and rushed up to the second floor. There, they tried to put out the fire in the room where it had started. “But that was too dangerous. We then focused on helping the residents to evacuate the affected corridor.” One person lost their life nonetheless.
They are a symbol of not looking away and not being indifferent. They have actively helped and are therefore a role model.
Operations in care homes are always a challenge because the residents are less mobile. It must be emphasised that what the young people did was not without risk. But they showed real moral courage.
The Free State of Saxony’s Life-Saving Medal of Honour for Rescue from Danger is awarded to individuals who, at the risk of their own lives or in particularly perilous circumstances, have saved human lives or averted a significant danger threatening the general public. The city of Chemnitz had nominated the young people for this honour.