Frankfurt/Main (dpa) – The historian and journalist Anne Applebaum has been awarded the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. “At a time when the achievements and values of democracy are increasingly being caricatured and coming under attack, her work is an eminently important contribution to the preservation of peace and the democratic order,” says the Foundation Board in its statement. The award is traditionally presented at the end of the Frankfurt Book Fair, this year on 20 October.
Applebaum is an expert on Eastern European history and has long been a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin. She called for support for Ukraine early on so as to send a clear message to Russia. Applebaum thanked the jury of the Peace Prize and “everyone in Germany who continues to fight for peace, freedom and democracy in Ukraine, in Russia and throughout Europe”. Applebaum was born in Washington D.C. to Jewish parents. After studying in 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 intermittently for decades and now holds both Polish and US citizenship.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz congratulated the journalist on winning the prize: “The historian Anne Applebaum warned against Russian expansionism early on. Through the insights she provides into Eastern European history, she reminds us how fragile even democratic societies can be.”
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