IDI congratulates Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer, IDI Vice President, on receipt of the 2009 Alexander von Humboldt Research Award in Humanities. The ‘Humboldt Prize’ is one of the most prestigious honors given in Germany to internationally renowned scholars in recognition of a lifetime of academic achievement. On behalf of the entire IDI family, we wish Prof. Kremnitzer continued success and our most sincere congratulations on this well-deserved honor.
A brief history of the Humboldt Research Award
The Humboldt Research Award is named after the late Prussian explorer and scientist, Alexander von Humboldt. It is bestowed by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation on internationally renowned scholars from a variety of academic disciplines. According to the Foundation, the Award is granted “in recognition of a researcher's entire achievements to date…(and) whose fundamental discoveries, new theories, or insights have had a significant impact on their own discipline and who are expected to continue producing cutting-edge achievements in the future…”.
Information on Prof. Mordechai Kremnitzer
Prof. Kremnitzer - who has been a Senior Fellow at IDI since 1994 and Vice President since 2008 - heads IDI’s projects on "Constitutional Principles and Their Implementation," "National Security and Democracy," and "Political Corruption in Israel." He is the Bruce W. Wayne Professor of Criminal Law at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he teaches Criminal Law and Constitutional Law, and was formerly Dean of the Faculty.
Born in Fuert, Germany, Prof. Kremnitzer received his PhD at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1980. He has published extensively in the fields of criminal, military, and public law, and is co-author of the proposal for a new section of the Israeli penal code, which has been adopted by the Knesset. His books, written in Hebrew, deal with judicial activism, Basic Law: The Army, the offense of sedition, libel, official secrets, revocation of citizenship, disqualification of parties and lists, targeted killings, offenses against the state, and the offense of breach of trust. In 1989, Prof. Kremnitzer received the Pinchas Rozen Award for legal research and in 2003, he was awarded the Zeltner Prize for excellence in research. He has served as an adviser to the governments of Canada, Hungary, and Finland on reform and legislation, and has been a visiting professor and researcher at The Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Criminal Law in Freiburg, Tulane University in the U.S., the Central European University in Budapest, McGill University in Montreal, and the Institute for Advanced Studies of Berlin.
Professor Kremnitzer was appointed Chairperson of the Israeli Association of Public Law in 2002. He served as President of the Israeli Press Council (2000-2003) and as the Academic Director of the Minerva Center for Human Rights at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2001-2003). He has also served on numerous public committees appointed by the Minister of Police on the use of force by the police (1994); the Minister of Education on Education Towards Good Citizenship (1996); and the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Justice on methods to deal with offenses and misconduct of public employees (1998).