"Instead of dividing and separating people by origin or religion, as parts of politics do, she has built bridges and worked intensively for interreligious dialogue," said Alexander Pollak, spokesman for SOS Mitmensch, explaining the award for Weißbacher. The retired teacher has been campaigning for the protection of refugees in Carinthia for many years and helped, among other things, to expose the scandal surrounding the Saualm accommodation for asylum seekers, furthermore she protested against the racist "Carinthia will be free of Chechens" campaign initiated by Jörg Haider.

"She has looked and helped everywhere where others have looked away. In doing so, she has bravely and fearlessly stood up against populistic and sometimes openly racist politics" Polak said. He continued, "More people like her are needed in the country."