East Eu historian Karl Schlogel won the Peace Prize of the German E book Business in Frankfurt’s Paulskirche. In his acceptance speech, Putin’s critic prompt the Germans to be informed from the Ukrainians: “They are familiar with the lessons of resistance behavior and are teaching the Europeans what to expect if they do not finally prepare for an emergency.”
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“Citizens of Ukraine teach us that what is happening is not called the Ukrainian conflict, but war. They help us understand who we are dealing with: a regime that wants to destroy Ukraine as an independent state and that hates Europe,” mentioned the 77-year-old. “They show us that appeasing the aggressor only increases his appetite for more and that appeasement does not lead to peace, but paves the way to war.”
“Without a free Ukraine, there will be no peace in Europe”
The peace prize is awarded with 25,000 euros. The prize has been awarded since 1950 via the German E book Business Affiliation, a certified group of publishers and booksellers. The award used to be offered in entrance of greater than 700 visitors on the finish of the Frankfurt E book Truthful, together with State Minister for Tradition Wolfram Weimer (CDU), Bishop Georg Making a bet and Bundestag Vice President Omid Nuripour (Vegetables).
Schlogel used to be one of the vital first to warn of Putin’s competitive growth coverage, in line with a certificates offered to the 77-year-old on Sunday via the outgoing head of the German E book Business Affiliation, Karin Schmidt-Friederichs. “His warning to us: Without a free Ukraine, there is no peace in Europe.”
“New World Disorder”
He belongs to a era “that was incredibly lucky and now it’s incredibly difficult to say goodbye and adjust to the war in Europe and everything that comes with it,” Schlogel mentioned. He may no longer believe that Russia would go back once more “to times similar in many ways to the practices of Stalinism.”
Now there’s a “new world disorder”. Putin opened the “gateway to a new pre-war era”. He’s the “figure of evil”, the “lord of escalation dominance”. Concern is his maximum essential weapon “and his real talent lies in managing fear.”
Wishful considering and gullibility should finish. “There were many people who understood Russia, but too few who understood anything about Russia,” criticized Schlogel. Russia is waging this conflict no longer best with army method, “however as a conflict of minds with moods, with fears, with resentments or as a tempting be offering to go back to ‘industry as standard.’
“Thank you for continuing to speak”
In her eulogy, Ukrainian-German creator Katya Petrovskaya described how she met Schlogel at an indication in Berlin in 2022, days after the Russian assault on Ukraine, wrapped in a Ukrainian flag. “Your public despair helped us a lot during that time, as did your ability to pull yourself together and keep going, despite everything. We knew: we were not alone. Thank you for continuing to speak out.”
His view of the East is characterised via longing, interest and “yes, I can say that word – love”. The root of his paintings is openness: “It’s about never making judgments without a precise look, whether it’s a person or a place.” His fulfillment is to “look beyond national borders, to dissolve entrenched prejudices, to confront ignorance.”
From the farm in Algo to Russia
Schlogel used to be born right into a farming circle of relatives in Havangen im Allgau in 1948. He discovered Russian at a monastery boarding college, traveled to Russia and the Czech Republic as a young person and skilled the Prague Spring there. He research Jap Eu historical past and marries a Russian creator.
All the way through his existence he traveled between East and West, permitting the West to seem in the back of the Iron Curtain. His first e book from 1984 is named “Reading Moscow”. He does no longer need a college occupation for for much longer. After the autumn of the Berlin Wall, he taught first in Konstanz after which in Frankfurt am Oder.
Proper prejudices and awaken interest
In his paintings, he combines empirical historiography with private reports, in line with the Peace Prize certificates. “With his narrative style, which combines observation, feeling and understanding, he corrects prejudices and awakens curiosity.”
His means of writing historical past isn’t according to archives, Schmidt-Friederichs mentioned, “he needs stories, smells and tastes, land and people, a view.” These days he’s denied that: “Karl Schlegel, who knows Russia like no one else and has made Russia his home, can no longer travel there without risking arrest.”
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