On May 8, 2015, Joe Daus, a resident of Saint Charles, Missouri will be the recipient of the City of Ludwigsburg, Germany’s highest honor, the Bürgermedaille, at the Ludwigsburg Castle during their Founding Anniversary Ceremony. Daus is being honored for all of his efforts between the City of Saint Charles and Ludwigsburg for the creation of the Saint Charles-Ludwigsburg Sister Cities International, an International German-American Partnership between the cities of Ludwigsburg and Saint Charles. Daues has German ancestors and was stationed in Heidelberg as a young soldier, and now the 80 year-old Daues will receive this highest honor there.
In 1994, Daus was the leader of a group of St. Charles residents wanting to carry on their German Heritage, and were searching for a Sister City when they decided upon Ludwigsburg. During this time he developed a very successful student exchange program between four high schools in St. Charles and four high schools in Ludwigsburg. Over 1200 young people have participated in the exchange over the years between their partner schools in Germany and the USA. It was he who worked to provide the German students internships and scholarships to Lindenwood College. Daus’ fundraising efforts further enabled the teacher and student visits to Germany. He also presented valuable contacts between the municipalities, chamber of commerce and businesses. He also organized several meetings between economic developers from St. Charles and Ludwigsburg. Daues was the leader of this organization until 2009, when Daus received the Ludwigsburg Medaille at the 300th anniversary of the city. We congratulate Joe Daus on this highly deserved honor.
Missouri Germans Consortium 