German Non-Fiction Prize 2022

Bettina Baltschev begins her journey to Europe’s beaches on a beach on the North Sea. Starting from eight beaches in...

Bettina Baltschev begins her journey to Europe’s beaches on a beach on the North Sea. Starting from eight beaches in eight countries, she goes on excursions into the present and into the history of places of yearning that, for some, are a last resort. She writes of true and fictitonal, happy and tragic fates on beaches – on the edge of our world. 

German-Russian relations – in all their ambivalence, contradictoriness and violence – played a key role in the 20th century. Stefan...

German-Russian relations – in all their ambivalence, contradictoriness and violence – played a key role in the 20th century. Stefan Creuzberger tells the story of this tense relationship in an era marked by dramatic turning points, interconnections and change.  

Can we grant non-human beings rationality and consciousness? Ludwig Huber takes stock of the current state of research on animal...

Can we grant non-human beings rationality and consciousness? Ludwig Huber takes stock of the current state of research on animal thinking and, drawing on the most significant experiments and observations, explains what animals can do. These new scientific findings compel us to reconsider our current attitude towards animals. 

Peaceful demonstrators in Belarus defied the violent regime. Alice Bota tells the stories of the three leading protagonists, who became...

Peaceful demonstrators in Belarus defied the violent regime. Alice Bota tells the stories of the three leading protagonists, who became politicians against their will: Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, Maria Kolesnikova and Veronika Zepkalo. A portrait of an uprising. 

For over 100 years, the “heads” of the Hohenzollern family have worked repeatedly with lawyers, journalists and PR consultants to...

For over 100 years, the “heads” of the Hohenzollern family have worked repeatedly with lawyers, journalists and PR consultants to burnish the family’s public image. Stephan Malinowski analyses these curated self-presentations in a historical narrative that spans three generations, up to the present day. 

A powerful story can save the world – or destroy it. It can decide elections, save lives, but also start...

A powerful story can save the world – or destroy it. It can decide elections, save lives, but also start wars and entrench injustice. Based on influential narratives from antiquity to the present, Samira El Ouassil and Friedemann Karig trace this ambivalent power – and show which stories are dangerous to us today and why we need new ones. 

What distinguishes racism from anti-Semitism? Is it possible to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and of colonialism without relativising...

What distinguishes racism from anti-Semitism? Is it possible to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust and of colonialism without relativising history? In the work of Hannah Arendt, Edward Said and others, Natan Sznaider finds ideas and arguments to advance the debate on the relationship between colonial crimes and the Holocaust. 

In recent years, deep cracks have appeared in the cosmopolitan dream of a borderless world. But was it ever realistic...

In recent years, deep cracks have appeared in the cosmopolitan dream of a borderless world. But was it ever realistic in the first place? Steffen Mau shows that, from the outset of the age of globalisation, borders have not been more open but transformed into powerful sorting machines instead. While a small circle of privileged people is able to travel almost anywhere today, the vast majority of the world’s population continues to be systematically excluded.