Anne Applebaum is an expert on Eastern Europe, a critic of Putin – and the 2024 Peace Prize winner. Her work is an important contribution to the preservation of democracy and peace, according to the jury.
She is one of the most prominent critics of authoritarian rule and Russian expansionist policy: Now the historian and publicist Anne Applebaum (59) is being awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.
“At a time when democratic achievements and values are increasingly being caricatured and attacked, her work becomes an eminently important contribution to the preservation of democracy and peace,” the foundation’s board of directors said in its statement.
The award is traditionally presented at the end of the Frankfurt Book Fair, this year on October 20th.
Applebaum is an expert in Eastern European history. She warned early on in her books and essays about Russian President Vladimir Putin and his aggressive anti-Western course. She called for support for Ukraine early on in order to send Russia a clear message.
Applebaum told the German Press Agency that the Peace Prize award was an honor for her. “This is particularly important to me because my work on Soviet and Eastern European history has benefited so much from the research of German historians and scientists.”
Applebaum thanked the jury and “everyone in Germany who continues to fight for peace, freedom and democracy in Ukraine, Russia and all of Europe.” The expert on Eastern European history is one of the most prominent critics of authoritarian rule and Russian expansionist policies. She warned early on in her books and essays about Russian President Vladimir Putin and his aggressive anti-Western course.
Applebaum was born to Jewish parents in Washington DC. After studying at Yale, London and Oxford, she began her career in 1988 as a correspondent for the Economist in Poland, where she reported on the collapse of communism. Applebaum has lived in Poland for decades, with interruptions, and now holds both US and Polish citizenship.
The Peace Prize, worth 25,000 euros, is considered one of the most prestigious awards. In 2023, the British-Indian writer Salman Rushdie was honored, and a year earlier, the Ukrainian writer Serhij Zhadan. With Applebaum, a relatively unknown prizewinner is now being honored.
Things are different in Applebaum’s adopted home: During her time as a correspondent in Warsaw, she met Radoslaw Sikorski, the current foreign minister. The two married in 1992 and have two sons, Aleksandr and Tadeusz. They are considered a power couple in Poland. The 61-year-old Sikorski is one of the most prominent figures in the liberal-conservative camp of Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk. He was already foreign minister from 2007 to 2014 and previously headed the defense ministry.
Like Applebaum, Sikorski is a staunch transatlanticist and has always warned against Russia’s imperial ambitions. He is said to have ambitions to run in the Polish presidential election next year. In Brussels, he is being considered as a possible candidate for the post of EU Defense Commissioner.
Applebaum worked for various British newspapers. In 2002, she became a member of the editorial board of the Washington Post for four years. She now writes primarily for the American magazine The Atlantic. She has also written books such as The Gulag (2003), The Iron Curtain (2012) and The Allure of Authoritarianism (2021).
She has attracted a lot of attention with her works, in which she traces the mechanisms of authoritarian power. She was awarded the prestigious Pulitzer Prize in 2004. Most recently, she also received the 2024 Carl von Ossietzky Prize from the city of Oldenburg.
She has “revealed the mechanisms of authoritarian seizure and retention of power with her profound and horizon-broadening analyses of the communist and post-communist systems of the Soviet Union and Russia,” the Peace Prize Foundation Board continues in its statement. “With her research into the interaction between economy and democracy and the effects of disinformation and propaganda on democratic societies, she shows how fragile these are – especially when democracies are undermined from within by the electoral successes of autocrats.”
Applebaum and Sikorski spend a lot of time abroad. In Poland they live in a picturesque mansion in the village of Chobielin near the western Polish city of Bydgoszcz. The two also have interests outside of politics: they spent 15 years restoring the dilapidated building, as Applebaum once said. Applebaum also once published a cookbook with Polish recipes.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz congratulated the journalist on the award. “The historian Anne Applebaum warned early on about Russia’s expansionist policy, she brings us closer to Eastern European history and reminds us how fragile democratic societies can be,” wrote the SPD politician on X.
In a statement by Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens), Applebaum was said to be “not only one of the most important historians of our time, but also a steadfast advocate of democracy and human rights.”
The German Publishers and Booksellers Association, the professional organization of publishers and bookstores, has been awarding the Peace Prize since 1950. It is intended to honor personalities who have contributed to the realization of the idea of peace in literature, science or art.
Website of Anne Applebaum Post from Scholz on X
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
