Current Year

Stefan Koldehoff

Stefan Koldehoff, born in Wuppertal in 1967, studied art history, German language and literature and political science, worked as a freelance journalist for FAZ, SZ, taz and the broadcaster WDR and was deputy editor-in-chief of the art magazine art in Hamburg. Since 2001, he has been working as a culture editor at Deutschlandfunk in Cologne and writing for DIE ZEIT and art, among others. Books he has published include: “Van Gogh. Mythos und Wirklichkeit” (“Van Gogh. Myth and Reality”) (2003), “Die Bilder sind unter uns. Das Geschäft mit der NS-Raubkunst” (“The Artworks Are in Our Midst: The Looted Nazi Art Trade”) (2009, expanded new edition 2014), “Falsche Bilder – Echtes Geld: Der Fälschungscoup des Jahrhunderts – und wer alles daran verdiente” (“Fake Paintings – Real Money. The Art Forgery Coup of the Century”) (with Tobias Timm, 2012), “O-Ton Pina Bausch – Interviews und Reden” (“O-Ton Pina Bausch. Interviews and Speeches”) (as editor, 2016) and “Kunst und Verbrechen” (“Art & Crime”) (2020).

Dr Klaus Kowalke

Klaus Kowalke was born in 1967 in Helmstedt, Brunswick Land, where he also grew up. He studied philosophy and history in Berlin and Hamburg, and worked as a publisher at Kowalke & Co. in Berlin (1995–2001), a lecturer in philosophy (2001–2007) and a bookseller at “Lessing und Kompanie” in Chemnitz (since 2008). Deputy chairman of the Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia regional association of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (German Publishers and Booksellers Association) and deputy chairman of the retail booksellers committee of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels.

Tania Martini

Tania Martini, born in 1972, is political books and humanities editor at taz. She teaches sociology and cultural studies and regularly moderates discussions. She is a juror for the ZDF, Deutschlandfunk Kultur and DIE ZEIT best non-fiction list and lives in Berlin.

Prof Dr Meron Mendel

Prof Dr Meron Mendel, born in Israel in 1976, is professor of transnational social work at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences and director of the Bildungsstätte Anne Frank (Anne Frank Educational Centre). He studied history and education in Haifa/Munich and received his doctorate from Goethe University in 2010. Mendel is a columnist at FAZ and publishes in DIE ZEIT, Spiegel and taz, among others. He co-edited “Trigger Warnung: Identitätspolitik zwischen Abwehr, Abschottung und Allianzen” (“Trigger Warning: Identity Politics Between Defence, Isolation and Alliances”) (2019).

Dr Jeanne Rubner

Jeanne Rubner, born in 1961, is Vice President Communication and Public Engagement at TU München (Technical University of Munich). Until end of March 2022, she was head of the “Wissen und Bildung aktuell” (Current Knowledge and Education) department at Bayerischer Rundfunk. Previously, she worked at Süddeutsche Zeitung on the topics of science and domestic and foreign policy. She studied physics and history of science in Regensburg, Strasbourg and Seattle and did her doctorate in theoretical biophysics at the Technical University of Munich, where she now has a teaching position. She is the author of numerous books about science, energy and educational policy. She has been awarded the Universitas-Preis für Wissenschaftsjournalismus der Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Stiftung (Universitas Prize for Science Journalism of the Hanns Martin Schleyer Foundation) and the Medaille für Naturwissenschaftliche Publizistik der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft (Medal for Natural Science Journalism of the German Physical Society).

Denis Scheck

Denis Scheck, born in 1964, is a literary critic, television presenter (“Druckfrisch” on ARD, “lesenswert” on SWR) and author. His most recent publications are “Schecks Kanon” (“Scheck’s Canon”) (Piper) and “Der undogmatische Hund” (“The Undogmatic Dog”) (Kiepenheuer & Witsch).

Prof Dr Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger

Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger is a professor of early modern history at the University of Münster and has been rector of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (Berlin Institute for Advanced Study) since 2018. Her field of research is the constitutional, political and cultural history of Europe from the 16th to 18th century, in particular the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. Her main focus is on rituals and procedures, metaphors and symbols. Her recent books include “Maria Theresia. Die Kaiserin in ihrer Zeit” (“Maria Theresia. The Habsburg Empress in Her Time”) (4th edition, Munich 2018) and “Rituale” (“Rituals”) (2nd edition, Frankfurt/Main 2019).

Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2022

Die Hohenzollern und die Nazis

Stephan Malinowski

Awardee