In 2012, two months after Lynette Rowe’s ground-breaking case in Australia, Grünenthal’s chief executive Harald Stock addressed Thalidomide survivors directly in a public speech, marking the unveiling of a controversial sculpture intended to “commemorate the deaths and the survivors of the Contergan catastrophe” in Stolberg (near Aachen). During his speech Stock said how sorry he was that the company had “remained silent” for such a long time and that for 50 years they hadn’t “found our way to you, from person to person.” Stock chose his words carefully. He apologized for not reaching out to survivors earlier, but he didn’t say anything that could be interpreted as an admission of guilt. Thalidomide survivors around the world did not accept Grünenthal’s apology as sincere and were angered by Stock’s words.

Source: Spiegel Online: 50 Jahre Schweigen (50 Years of Silence), August 31, 2008.