Christina Morina receives the German Non-Fiction Prize 2024 for her work “Tausend Aufbrüche”

The winner of the German Non-Fiction Prize 2024 is Christina Morina, for her work “Tausend Aufbrüche. Die Deutschen und ihre Demokratie seit den 1980er Jahren” (“A Thousand New Beginnings. Germans and Their Democracy Since the 1980s”) (Siedler Verlag).

Statement from the jury: 

“There is a broad consensus that democracies around the world are in crisis. Yet the question of what it actually means to live democracy is often pushed into the background. Using sources that have received little attention to date, Christina Morina shows how a very different understanding of democracy developed in East and West Germany since the 1980s. Her methodically sophisticated and eye-opening contemporary historical analysis based on letters, petitions and leaflets gives a voice to citizens of East and West Germany. With this book, Morina offers surprising and necessary insights to spur current social debate. Her book risks a great deal, but without polarising – democracy is a process, not a condition.”

The members of the jury for the German Non-Fiction Prize 2024 are: Sibylle Anderl (DIE ZEIT), Julika Griem (Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities [KWI] Essen), Michael Hagner (ETH Zurich), Stefan Koldehoff (Deutschlandfunk), Michael Lemling (“Buchhandlung Lehmkuhl” bookshop), Patricia Rahemipour (Institute for Museum Research, Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation) and Katrin Vohland (Natural History Museum Vienna).

The following books were also nominated for the award:

Jens Beckert: Verkaufte Zukunft. Warum der Kampf gegen den Klimawandel zu scheitern droht (Suhrkamp), Sebastian Conrad: Die Königin. Nofretetes globale Karriere (Propyläen), Ruth Hoffmann: Das deutsche Alibi. Mythos “Stauffenberg-Attentat” – wie der 20. Juli 1944 verklärt und politisch instrumentalisiert wird (Goldmann), Roman Köster: Müll. Eine schmutzige Geschichte der Menschheit (C.H.Beck), Frauke Rostalski: Die vulnerable Gesellschaft. Die neue Verletzlichkeit als Herausforderung der Freiheit (C.H.Beck), Marcus Willaschek: Kant. Die Revolution des Denkens (C.H.Beck) and Moshe Zimmermann: Niemals Frieden? Israel am Scheideweg (Propyläen).

The Stiftung Buchkultur und Leseförderung des Börsenvereins des Deutschen Buchhandels (Foundation for Book Culture and the Promotion of Reading of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association) awards the German Non-Fiction Prize in recognition of the non-fiction book of the year, an original German-language edition of an outstanding work of non-fiction that inspires social debate.

Deutsche Bank Stiftung (Deutsche Bank Foundation) is the main supporter of the prize, which is also backed by the city of Hamburg and Frankfurter Buchmesse. Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth is patron of the prize, and Deutschlandfunk Kultur is a media partner.

A press photo of the winner will be available from approx. 8 p.m. at www.boersenverein.de/pressefotos.

Frankfurt am Main/Hamburg, 11 June 2024