Paralympic star Markus Rehm: New face of the crafts campaign

Markus Rehm is a Paralympic champion, an orthopaedic mechanic, and one of four new ambassadors for the nationwide campaign of the skilled trades: "Career with feeling".

This article is part of the special feature on the image campaign: Join in!

The skilled trades sector is launching the second phase of its "Career with Feeling" campaign on posters and online. One of the new faces is Markus Rehm : orthopaedic technician, multiple Paralympic champion, world champion, and world record holder in the long jump. Together with other skilled tradespeople, he shares stories of career paths that don't follow the classic "higher, faster, further" pattern, but are instead characterized by responsibility, solidarity, and team spirit.

"As an orthopaedic technician, I see every day the impact that craftsmanship can have. Giving people back mobility and quality of life is far more than just a job. For me, it's a meaningful task. That's why I'm happy to be part of a campaign that shows that career isn't just about performance, but also about humanity," says Markus Rehm.

The new campaign showcases further success stories: 

Four new faces of the skilled trades campaign – four success stories. Photo: © The Skilled Trades

Scaffolder Sina Scheffler runs a company in a traditionally male-dominated field. Boatbuilder Julian Schunk and his employees demonstrate that craftsmanship is always teamwork. Goldsmith and silversmith Hereza Rosa Schmidtke took over a business in her mid-twenties. Current apprenticeship figures show that a career in skilled trades is becoming increasingly attractive to the younger generation, according to the German Confederation of Skilled Crafts ( ZDH), which is responsible for the campaign. In the first half of 2026, nearly 67.800 new apprenticeship contracts were signed in the skilled trades. That's 4,9 percent more than in the same period of the previous year. "This gives us the prospect that apprenticeship numbers in the skilled trades could rise for the fourth year in a row," the ZDH is optimistic.

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Chance Handwerk: Register now as an exhibitor

👉🏻 On September 19th, the Day of Crafts will also take place. Since 2011, this nationwide day of action has drawn attention to the importance, diversity and performance of skilled trades – and to the career opportunities offered by the more than 130 apprenticeship trades.

Templates for businesses: After a one-time registration, businesses can access free templates on the trades' advertising portal. These templates can be personalized with their own data, downloaded free of charge, and used for their own advertising. Click here to go to the advertising portal.

Source: The Craft

DHB now also available digitally! Simply click here and register for the digital German Crafts Journal (DHB)!