Aktion Mensch

Aktion Mensch is a German registered association and social organisation whose best-known activity is the Aktion Mensch lottery. The organisation uses lottery proceeds and donations to support inclusion, disability services, and projects for children and young people. Its public mission extends beyond grant-making: it also works to change attitudes toward disability, encourage equal participation, provide practical information, and promote a society in which human differences are treated as a normal part of community life. The organisation was established in 1964 on the initiative of Hans Mohl, a ZDF journalist and presenter of the television programme Gesundheitsmagazin Praxis. Its creation followed intense public concern about the thalidomide disaster. The sleeping medicine marketed in West Germany as Contergan had caused severe birth defects, and the resulting debate helped move disability from a largely private subject into a matter of public responsibility. Mohl developed a relief initiative that combined television broadcasting, public fundraising, and a lottery intended to improve the lives of children with disabilities. ZDF became a member and a long-term broadcasting partner. The association was originally known as Aktion Sorgenkind, a name that framed disabled children primarily as objects of care and pity. During the 1990s, its public communication changed substantially. The 1995 Respect campaign presented people with disabilities as self-confident participants rather than passive beneficiaries. In 1999, the general meeting approved the name Aktion Mensch, which took effect on 1 March 2000. The new name reflected a broader understanding of the organisation's work and a shift toward participation, rights, accessibility, and social inclusion. Aktion Mensch is governed as a membership association. Its members include ZDF and six major welfare organisations: Arbeiterwohlfahrt, Deutscher Caritasverband, the German Red Cross, the Diaconal Charity of the German Evangelical Church, the Deutscher Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband, and the Zentralwohlfahrtsstelle der Juden in Deutschland. The headquarters are in Mainz, while the organisation's service centre is in Bonn. The lottery is the organisation's principal financing mechanism. Participants purchase individual or subscription tickets, and the resulting income is used for lottery prizes, operating and communications costs, taxes, and social funding. Grants are generally directed to recognised independent social organisations rather than private individuals or public institutions. Supported work has included accessible and barrier-free buildings, community-based housing, mobility, integration companies, inclusive education and leisure programmes, personnel and material costs, and initiatives that help replace large institutional arrangements with smaller community-integrated settings. Applications are assessed under published funding rules, with attention to innovative approaches and practical implementation of inclusion. Aktion Mensch also operates information and participation services. Familienratgeber.de provides disability-related information, local contacts, and a network of partner organisations for disabled people and their relatives. Its volunteer database connects users with charitable and community services. The organisation's education resources provide research materials and downloadable material for teaching and public learning. Its magazine Menschen. includes reporting, interviews, biographies, and explanatory content on inclusion, disability support, children and youth welfare, and self-help, with accessible online formats such as plain-language content and audio versions. Awareness work remains central to the brand. National campaigns have addressed equal participation at work, in schools, and during leisure time, while the organisation's recurring activities around 5 May support public debate and local action for disability equality. Aktion Mensch communicates through its own platforms and through television partnerships, including the ZDF programme Aktion Mensch Gewinner, which combines lottery announcements with reports on supported projects. The organisation therefore combines a mass-participation lottery, charitable funding, public education, and advocacy-oriented communications within one German social brand.

Aktion Mensch was founded in 1964 after journalist Hans Mohl responded to the social consequences of the thalidomide disaster. The drug sold in West Germany as Contergan had caused serious congenital disabilities, generating unusually broad media attention and public debate. Mohl used his role at ZDF to organise a relief effort for affected children and to establish a continuing public mechanism for support. The resulting organisation combined charitable fundraising with a lottery and television promotion. ZDF became one of its members and helped make the cause visible to a national audience. The early organisation operated under the name Aktion Sorgenkind. Its television presence was particularly important. Vergißmeinnicht ran from 1964 to 1970, followed by Drei mal Neun and then Der Große Preis. These programmes promoted the organisation and its lottery while presenting fundraising as a shared national activity. Der Große Preis continued until 1993. Later formats, including Goldmillion, Das Große Los, Jede Sekunde zählt, and a further Der Große Preis, had shorter runs. Television remained part of the organisation's communications strategy even as its programming model changed. The organisation's understanding of disability evolved during the 1990s. The 1995 Respect campaign rejected portrayals of disabled people solely as dependent recipients of compassion and instead highlighted their agency and participation. In 1997, Aktion Mensch and a large group of welfare and self-help organisations conducted Aktion Grundgesetz, a campaign advocating implementation of the German Basic Law's protection against discrimination on the grounds of disability. The campaign helped establish 5 May as a recurring day for decentralised public actions and demonstrations concerning disability equality. In 1999, the general meeting decided to rename the association Aktion Mensch. The change became effective on 1 March 2000. It expressed both an expanded field of work and a change in public language: the organisation sought to address society as a whole rather than define disabled people primarily through their need for help. Its statutes also came to include clarification and public awareness as important objectives, reflecting the view that project funding alone could not create lasting inclusion. Children and young people became a more explicitly prioritised area from 2003. The association developed a welfare service for this group alongside its established disability-related funding. Its grant-making has covered independent social organisations working on accessibility, community-based living, mobility, inclusive education and leisure, integration employment, staffing, materials, and public advocacy. The organisation's funding approach favours projects that are innovative and demonstrate inclusion in ordinary community life, including smaller initiatives that may not otherwise receive substantial support. Aktion Mensch expanded its public-information role through services such as Familienratgeber.de, which provides disability-related guidance and local contacts, and a large volunteer-services database. It also created education resources and published the quarterly magazine Menschen., supplemented by accessible online content, plain-language versions, and audio formats. Television programming continued through formats that combined lottery results with stories about funded projects. Thomas Gottschalk became associated with the organisation in 2003, Jörg Pilawa presented lottery results from 2012, and Rudi Cerne took over that role in 2014. From 2011 onward, national inclusion campaigns addressed participation at work, in education, and in leisure. Later phases encouraged questions about barriers, portrayed people overcoming obstacles, and emphasised encounters between disabled and non-disabled people. By its fiftieth anniversary in 2014, Aktion Mensch had developed from a relief initiative into a broad social brand combining lottery finance, grant-making, information, media, and awareness work. It remains a German association headquartered in Mainz, with a service centre in Bonn.

• 2014

  Fiftieth anniversary

  [1]Aktion Menschen.wikipedia.org

  Aktion Mensch marked fifty years with events and a message emphasising both achievements and unfinished inclusion work.

• 2011

  Nationwide Inclusion Campaign starts

  [1]Aktion Menschen.wikipedia.org

  A multi-phase campaign promoted equal participation and practical examples of inclusion.

• 2003

  Children and youth welfare becomes a priority

  [1]Aktion Menschen.wikipedia.org

  The organisation launched a dedicated welfare emphasis for children and young people alongside disability-related support.

• 2000

  Name becomes Aktion Mensch

  [1]Aktion Menschen.wikipedia.org

  The association's new name took effect on 1 March, signalling a broader inclusion-oriented mission.

• 1997

  Aktion Grundgesetz campaign

  [1]Aktion Menschen.wikipedia.org

  Aktion Mensch and partner organisations launched a nationwide campaign focused on the constitutional ban on disability discrimination.

• 1995

  Respect campaign changes disability representation

  [1]Aktion Menschen.wikipedia.org

  The Respect campaign presented disabled people as confident actors and participants rather than primarily as objects of charity.

• 1974

  Der Große Preis begins

  [1]Aktion Menschen.wikipedia.org

  The long-running ZDF programme Der Große Preis became the organisation's principal television vehicle for many years.

• 1970

  Drei mal Neun succeeds Vergißmeinnicht

  [1]Aktion Menschen.wikipedia.org

  A successor television format continued the organisation's national fundraising and awareness presence.

• 1964

  Organisation founded

  [1]Aktion Menschen.wikipedia.org

  Hans Mohl established the organisation with ZDF support after the public debate surrounding the thalidomide disaster.

• 1964

  Vergißmeinnicht begins

  [1]Aktion Menschen.wikipedia.org

  The first major ZDF television format promoting the relief initiative and its lottery began broadcasting.

A nationwide German social organisation that links lottery participation with practical funding for inclusion and welfare projects, while using media, education, and campaigns to promote equal participation.

• Social lottery · 1964

  Aktion Mensch Lottery

  The organisation's central public-facing offering is a German social lottery financed through individual and subscription tickets. Ticket formats have included recurring lottery products and monthly participation options, with multiple prize structures. Lottery income funds prizes and administration while providing the principal financing stream for Aktion Mensch's grants and awareness work.

• Information service

  Familienratgeber.de

  Familienratgeber.de is an information and referral service for people with disabilities and their relatives. It provides guidance on participation and independent living, local contacts, service providers, and opportunities to exchange experiences. The service is supported by a network of welfare partners and is designed to make fragmented disability-related information easier to find.

• Community platform

  Volunteer database

  Aktion Mensch's volunteer database connects people seeking voluntary work with charitable and community services. Organisations can describe their activities and the reasons for their work, while local partners help maintain the relevance of listings. The platform extends the brand's role from funding projects to enabling direct civic participation.

• Publication · 2004

  Menschen. magazine

  Menschen. is a periodical covering inclusion, disability support, self-help, children and youth welfare, and social participation. Its online extension adds photographs, video, plain-language material, and audio versions, reflecting Aktion Mensch's emphasis on accessible communication.

• Television programme

  Aktion Mensch Gewinner

  This ZDF programme announces lottery results and presents examples of projects supported by Aktion Mensch. It continues the organisation's long association with television as a means of combining public entertainment, fundraising visibility, and social storytelling.

• 2014Fiftieth-anniversary campaign

  Germany

  Anniversary communications reflected on the organisation's work and emphasised that further progress was still required to achieve inclusion.

  Outcome. Reinforced the brand's positioning as both a funder of projects and a public advocate for social change.

  Source
• 2011Inclusion Campaign

  Germany

  The nationwide campaign encouraged equal participation by people with disabilities and used positive examples to demonstrate inclusion in ordinary social settings.

  Outcome. Subsequent phases addressed employment, schools, leisure, barriers, and encounters between disabled and non-disabled people.

  Source
• 1997Aktion Grundgesetz

  Germany

  Aktion Mensch worked with more than one hundred welfare and self-help organisations to promote implementation of the German Basic Law's protection against discrimination because of disability.

  Outcome. The campaign helped establish 5 May as a recurring date for decentralised public actions concerning disability equality.

  Source
• 1995Respect Campaign

  Germany

  The campaign helped reposition public portrayals of disability by presenting disabled people as active, confident participants rather than passive recipients of pity.

  Outcome. Contributed to the organisation's broader shift toward inclusion, participation, and rights-based communication.

  Source

• 2003

  Prioritise children and youth welfareStrategy

  Background

  Aktion Mensch identified children and young people as a major area of social need in addition to its established disability-related work.

  Action taken

  The association launched a dedicated welfare service supporting projects for children and adolescents.

  Aftermath

  The organisation's grant-making scope broadened while retaining inclusion and disability support as core activities.

  Source

• 1999

  Approve the transition from Aktion Sorgenkind to Aktion MenschStrategy

  Background

  The organisation concluded that its original name and charity imagery no longer represented its broader work or its changing view of disability.

  Action taken

  The general meeting approved the new name Aktion Mensch, which became effective on 1 March 2000.

  Aftermath

  The rebrand marked a shift from a pity-based relief identity toward inclusion, participation, public education, and community responsibility.

  Source

1. 1Aktion Menschen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Aktion Mensch official websiteaktion-mensch.de