The Board of Trustees of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (German Publishers and Booksellers Association) has chosen the German historian and essayist Karl Schlögel to be the recipient of this year’s Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.
Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, president of the Börsenverein and chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of the Peace Prize, issued the following statement with regard to this year’s recipient:
“In his distinguished body of work, German historian and essayist Karl Schlögel combines empirical historiography with personal experience. As a scholar and flâneur, an archaeologist of modernity and a seismograph of social change, he explored the cities and landscapes of Central and Eastern Europe long before the fall of the Iron Curtain. Through his writing, Schlögel placed the cities of Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv and Kharkiv on the mental map of his readers. He also repeatedly characterised Saint Petersburg and Moscow as European cities. His unique narrative style combines observation, insight and feeling, a blend that allows him to effectively challenge existing prejudices while also awakening our curiosity. After Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Schlögel sharpened his focus on Ukraine, inviting us to join him in reflecting on Germany’s own blind spots regarding the region. His was one of the first voices to warn of Vladimir Putin’s aggressive expansionist policies and authoritarian-nationalist claims to power. Today, Schlögel continues to affirm Ukraine’s place in Europe, calling for its defence as essential to our shared future. His enduring message is both clear and urgent: Without a free Ukraine, there can be no peace in Europe.”
Karl Schlögel is considered one of the most preeminent connoisseurs of Eastern Europe. Throughout his entire oeuvre, he has combined detailed observations of everyday life with a spatial approach to historiography, always seeking to enable new ways of recounting the cultural and contemporary history of Russia and Eastern Europe. With major works such as “Terror und Traum” (tr. Terror and dream) and “Das sowjetische Jahrhundert” (tr. The Soviet Century), he consistently set new standards in vivid and vibrant historical writing. He has received numerous awards, most recently the Gerda Henkel Prize 2024.