The historian Stephan Malinowski receives the German Non-Fiction Prize 2022 for his monograph "The Hohenzollerns and the Nazis.

Story of a Collaboration”.

Malinowski has written an "excellently researched and brilliantly told book about the role of the Hohenzollerns since 1918," according to the jury's statement.

The title, published by Propyläen Verlag, combines social and political contemporary history with a family portrait and is also a milieu study of conservative and right-wing hostility towards the republic.

The author gives a "convincing answer to the Hohenzollern restitution demands and at the same time defends academic freedom against resistance."

Kai Spanke

Editor in the Feuilleton.

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According to Malinowski, the dynasty encouraged National Socialism to build the “Third Reich”, although this is disputed by Georg Friedrich Prince of Prussia.

As a result, there have been a number of legal disputes between the Hohenzollerns and media houses as well as historians - including Malinowski.

The prize offered by the German Book Trade Association is endowed with 42,500 euros.

Malinowski will receive 25,000 euros, the other seven nominees will each receive 2,500 euros.

A total of 244 books from 130 publishers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland were registered.

Tania Martini, spokeswoman for the jury, said at the award ceremony in Berlin's Humboldt Forum that the decisive evaluation criteria were analytical sharpness and stringent arguments, elegant style and social relevance: "A good non-fiction book should surprise and challenge readers."

Not just books by old white men

In a feature film, Martini also emphasized that it wasn't easy to choose a winner from the thematic and argumentative diversity of the eight nominated books - "but it's possible".

This marks an important point, because comparing novels doesn't seem to cause any major difficulties, but who could have even a remotely expert overview of the wide field of non-fiction, which includes all conceivable disciplines?

This is all the more questionable in view of the authors and titles nominated alongside Malinowski: Bettina Baltschev ("On the Edge of Happiness. Over the Beach"), Alice Bota ("The Women of Belarus. Of Revolution, Courage and the Urge for Freedom"), Stefan Creuzberger (“The German-Russian Century. Story of a Special Relationship”), Samira El Ouassil and Friedemann Karig (“Narrative Monkeys. Myths, Lies, Utopias – How Stories Shape Our Lives”), Ludwig Huber (“The Rational Animal. A cognitive-biological search for traces"), Steffen Mau ("Sorting machines. The reinvention of the border in the 21st century") and Natan Sznaider ("Vanishing points of memory. About the present of the Holocaust and colonialism").

At the sovereign, formalized celebration, the usual formulas and incantations, which were presented in a ritualized manner but were by no means false, were by no means absent.

For example in the case of the jury: Jeanne Rubner emphasized that non-fiction books should be authentic and credible.

Stefan Koldehoff finds it important not only to consider books by old white men.

Klaus Kowalke found that a text had to captivate.

The presenter Katja Gasser quoted Hannah Arendt: "Unanimous opinions are a threatening phenomenon and are one of the hallmarks of our modern mass age."

Culture is meant to sow doubt

Non-fiction books are an effective antidote, which Hartmut Dorgerloh, Director General of the Humboldt Forum, also saw: "We believe in the power of books, including non-fiction books." Karin Schmidt-Friderichs, head of the Börsenverein, finally said the sentence without which it is not possible: "Non-fiction books help to better understand the world we live in." And the patron of the award, Minister of State Claudia Roth, recalled the importance of art and culture in a democracy.

She interjected: "What is most important to me is that the Leipzig Book Fair takes place."

In view of the self-assurance customary in the industry, some of Martini's comments were particularly striking: "The louder the appeal to culture, the greater the social crisis," she said.

Only to express skepticism immediately afterwards in view of the demands that are often made of the culture.

Culture should see doubts, whether it can build bridges is another matter.

The German Journalist Award was presented for the first time last year.

The winning title was "Hegel's World" by Jürgen Kaube.

According to Malinowski, the editor responsible for the feuilleton of the FAZ addressed the audience at the end of his acceptance speech with the following words: "Read the other books too." This year's winner wanted to join in with this appeal.