Alexandra Hildebrandt | |
|---|---|
 US Ambassador William Timken and Alexandra Hildebrandt at Checkpoint Charlie | |
| Born | Alexandra Weissmann 27 February 1959 |
| Occupation(s) | director of the Checkpoint Charlie Museum human rights activist |
| Spouse(s) | Rainer Hildebrandt Daniel Dormann |
Alexandra Hildebrandt (née Weissmann, born on 27 February 1959)[1][2] is a German human rights activist and museum director of the Checkpoint Charlie Museum.[3] In 1995, she married the museum's co-founder and former director Rainer Hildebrandt, and they remained married until his death in 2004.[4] She is internationally noted for leading the construction of the Freedom Memorial, which was controversially demolished in 2005.[5] The focus of Alexandra Hildebrandt's work is the preservation and advancement of the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, the rehabilitation of the victims of the GDR-Regime, and the clarification of more destinies of refugees who suffered death at the East–west border. In 2004, she endowed the international human rights award, the Dr. Rainer Hildebrandt Medal, which is given annually in recognition of extraordinary, non-violent commitment to human rights.[6]
From 2010 until 2013, Hildebrandt worked to secure the release of oligarch turned political activist, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Initially she started with an exhibition in her Checkpoint Charlie Museum, to raise awareness about the fate of Khodorkovsky after Khodorkovsky's lawyers and family asked her for help. Eventually, she involved former German Foreign Secretary, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, in her international campaign to free Khodorkovsky. In 2013, Khodorkovsky was released from prison after serving some ten years.[7]
Hildebrandt remarried in 2016 and has eight children.[8]
