The historian was honored at the end of the Frankfurt Book Fair. There was much debate beforehand as to how a peace prize could be awarded to someone who demanded arms supplies to Ukraine.
American-Polish journalist and historian Anne Applebaum was awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade at the end of the Frankfurt Book Fair. “As democratic achievements and democratic values are increasingly undermined and attacked, her work becomes extremely important to preserve democracy and peace,” says the certificate she accepted in the Paulskirche.
Applebaum’s acceptance speech was a decisive plea to continue supporting Ukraine with weapons. Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, head of the German Book Trade Association, which awards the prize, admitted that her clear position on this point had provoked criticism in advance.
How can you award a peace prize to someone who demands military supplies? “That’s the culture of the Peace Prize,” said Schmidt-Friderichs: “We’re allowed to follow the opinions of the award winners. We should grow from them.” There was a lot of applause for her post in the packed Paulskirche.
Pulizter Prize Winner
Historian Applebaum, born in Washington DC in 1964, is married to Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski. She wrote books such as “The Gulag” (2003), “The Iron Curtain” (2012) and “The Allure of Authoritarianism” (2021). In 2004 she was awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize. Applebaum is the 75th Peace Prize winner. The honor comes with prize money of 25,000 euros.
“Perhaps the awarding of the Peace Prize is a good time to point out that the call for peace is not always a moral argument,” argues Applebaum. “It is also a good time to emphasize that the lesson of German history cannot be that Germans must be pacifists. On the contrary: We have known for almost a century that the demand for pacifism against an aggressive dictatorship is often nothing more than a cheer and acceptance of this dictatorship.”
“!The Germans have a responsibility for peace”
“Anyone who calls ‘pacifism’ and wants to surrender not only territory to Russia, but also people, principles and ideals, has learned nothing from the history of the 20th century,” said Applebaum. The phrase “Never again!” you are blind to reality.
“To prevent Russia from disbanding its autonomous political system, we must help Ukraine win,” Applebaum said. “If we have the opportunity to end this terrible cult of violence in Russia with a military victory, just as a military victory ended the cult of violence in Germany, we should use it.”
Asking the Germans to supply weapons is unusual. “But that’s the real lesson from German history,” Applebaum said: “It’s not that Germans will never be allowed to go to war again, but that they have a special responsibility to stand up for freedom and risk it while doing that.”
Russian opposition figure Scherbakova gave a laudatory speech
The Nobel Peace Prize winner gave the eulogy for a Peace Prize winner: Russian opposition activist Irina Scherbakova. The Russian historian is one of the founders of the human rights organization Memorial, which is now banned in Russia and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022.
Applebaum’s work was “a leading indicator” and almost all of her books were “forward-looking”. Applebaum “diagnosed and predicted the coming disasters and has been warning for years about the dangers of Putin’s regime,” Scherbakova said. “If there were more voices to be heard in the West, it would have been possible to stop Putin much earlier.”
Only a fine line separates the lie from the truth, Scherbakova said. Autocrats and propagandists have always worked to blur this line. Applebaum’s work helps ensure it continues. “She warned us like few others that what starts as a narrative line can become a real front line.” (APA/dpa)