In the early 2000s, Peter Kramer decided to name some of his ships after freedom fighters.
The German shipowner had just ordered a series of handysize tankers in South Korea.
He named two vessels after Sophie and Hans Scholl, who led the White Rose resistance movement in Nazi Germany.
Two ships were named after Simon Bolivar and Mahatma Gandhi, leaders of independence movements in South America and India.
Kramer also wanted to name one ship after Nelson Mandela. According to his son, Christian, chairman of Dr Karl-Heinz Kramer, Peter Kramer considered Mandela the most important freedom fighter in the world.
And the man who led South Africa out of apartheid was the only one of those famous names still alive in 2004.
Kramer needed to ask permission to use the Mandela name.
He wrote to the Nelson Mandela Foundation offering a substantial donation for use of the name. “And he got no reply — it surprised him a lot,” Christian said.
Persistence pays off
Undaunted, Kramer came up with the idea of another fundraising initiative. He teamed up with the Nelson Mandela Foundation and Unicef to fund schools in Africa.
This time, Kramer got an immediate reply. He was invited to Johannesburg to meet Mandela. “They sort of clicked,” said Christian.
Mandela greeted Kramer on their inaugural meeting in December 2004 with the phrase: “Education is the doorway to freedom, democracy and development.”
With that, the Schools for Africa project was formed.
Key to a better world
Kramer went before millions of viewers on prime-time TV in Germany, promising to double every donation made within one year up to a certain figure.
His appearance raised a substantial seven-digit figure, which has grown over the past 16 years to $300m.
The project has benefited 30 million children and is widely considered the most successful education campaign to be led by a private institution. It operates under the motto: “Education is the key to a better world.”
Having begun with six countries in sub-Saharan Africa, it has grown to cover more than 20 countries.
More than 2,800 schools have been built by the charity, which also provides educational materials and teacher training. Recently, it has worked on gender issues to help young girls continue their education.
Passionate commitment
Related projects include plans to build a school in Togo to be named the Peter Kramer School.
Christian remains committed to preserving his father’s legacy and has taken over as chairman of the Peter Kramer Stiftung (PKS) foundation.
Most of his time is focused on his shipping operation at Dr Karl-Heinz Kramer and its associate companies Marine Service and Chemikalien Seetransport (CST).
Three of the vessels named after freedom fighters, the 40,250-dwt chemical product tankers Hans Scholl, MS Sophie and MS Simon (all built 2004), remain in the fleet of Hamburg manager and owner CST.
Christian still finds time to visit two or three African countries a year: “It’s a great experience to go to Africa and see the children who can benefit from the programme and sometimes go to school for the first time in their life. It’s amazing to see them.”
Christian said he puts a lot of passion into the charity and remains committed to its future.
Successful in business — and life
For that he is aided by Hylke Boerstra, joint managing director of the Dr Karl-Heinz Kramer group, and PKS managing director Tilo Braune.
Peter Kramer died aged 66 in June 2017.
“My father wanted to give something back to society,” his son said. “He was successful in business, but he wanted to do something good as well.”
