On October 21st the Arik Brauer Journalism Prize 2024 awarded to the writer and Nobel Prize winner for literature Herta Müller, the terrorism expert Rebecca Schönenbach and the historian and journalist Michael Wolffsohn. The journalist and current spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces Arye Sharuz Shalicar received a special award.
Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2009 Herta Müller was born in Romania as a member of the German minority and came to Berlin in 1987. In her books she deals, among other things, with the damage that people suffer in dictatorships and totalitarian states. After the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, she published the much-noticed text “I can’t imagine a world without Israel” in the FAZ, in which she denounced the “total derailment from civilization” that was occurring not only in the crimes committed by Hamas, but also in the expressions of solidarity with the murderers here in the West. The publicist and former co-editor of the weekly magazine gives the laudatory speech for Herta Müller The time Joseph Joffe.
The economist Rebecca Schönenbach is an independent counter-terrorism consultant, an expert on Islamic financing and extremism and is committed to women’s rights and against violence against women. After the October 7 massacre, she lamented how women’s organizations around the world remained silent or even completely denied the sexual violence systematically used by Hamas, thereby abandoning Israeli women. The laudation holds Maya Zehden (Mena-Watch).
The historian and journalist Michael Wolffsohn was professor of modern history at the University of the Bundeswehr in Munich and has published numerous books on Israel, the Israeli-Arab conflict, German-Israeli relations, anti-Semitism and Judaism. His more recent books include Another Jewish world history (2022) and Never again? Again! Old and new anti-Semitism (2024). In newspaper comments he also repeatedly makes pointed comments on current topics. The psychologist and Islamism expert gives the laudation Ahmad Mansour.
The publicist receives a special prize Arye Sharuz Shalikar. Growing up in Berlin as the child of a Persian-Jewish family, he went to Israel in 2001, where he worked for several years as spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces. He returned to this task after the Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023, whereby he became the German-speaking voice of the IDF and explained the situation in Israel and the actions of the Israeli armed forces in numerous media appearances. The laudation holds Stefan Kaltenbrunnerjournalist and former editor-in-chief of the news channel Puls 24.
The Arik Brauer Journalism Prize is held once a year by the Vienna Middle East think tank Mena-Watch awarded for in-depth contributions to public debate that look at the Middle East from a fair and realistic perspective. The prize winners are chosen by an independent international jury.
The journalists previously received the prize Ester Schapira and Christian Ultschthe author Mirna Funk and the psychologist Ahmad Mansour; The songwriter and poet also received the award for his life’s work Wolf Biermann.
For registrations or feedback on the award ceremony, please contact sabine.pribil@thespis.com by October 16, 2024 or by phone at +43/1/512 42 00.
Awarding of the Arik Brauer Journalism Prize 2024
Honor for Herta Müller, Rebecca Schönenbach and Michael Wolffsohn, special prize for Arye Sharuz Shalicar
Datum: October 21, 2024, 7:00 p.m
Art: Gesellschaft
Ort: Walfischgasse City Theater
Walfischgasse 4
1010 Wien
Austria