“The fight against anti-Semitism has become more difficult than before,” says Armin Laschet

The Georg Stefan Troller Prize, worth 12,000 euros, was awarded for the first time on Sunday at the Jewish Museum in Frankfurt am Main. The prize money is shared by WELT journalist Nicholas Potter, Thorsten Schmitz from the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, the two book authors Mascha Malburg and Joshua Schultheis and the two radio play authors Sharon On and Dirk Laucke.

Anetta Kahane, founder of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, received an honorable mention for her columns in the “Frankfurter Rundschau”.

The honor was given to journalistic works that “make Jewish life in the present visible, present it in a differentiated manner and contribute to the understanding of the realities of Jewish life in German-speaking countries and worldwide.” The laudatory speech was given by the CDU politician and former Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Armin Laschet.

Laschet warned of a new, dangerous mix of right-wing, left-wing, academic and Arab anti-Semitism. According to the CDU politician, this is capable of poisoning the entire society.

Laschet was shocked by the rise of the AfD in Saxony-Anhalt and anti-Semitic attacks on the Berlin left. At the same time, he commented on the consequences of the attack by the terrorist organization Hamas. Since October 7, 2023, “living together here in Germany and the fight against anti-Semitism have become more difficult than before.”

The Georg Stefan Troller Prize is awarded by a 16-member jury made up of members of the FAZIT Foundation (the majority shareholder of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”) and the Jewish Journalists Association JJJ.

The authors were honored:

Nicholas Potter: “The New Authoritarian Left” (German paperback publisher)

Thorsten Schmitz: “If you have a why, you can endure any how” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)

Mascha Malburg/Joshua Schultheis: “What Jews talk about” (Hentrich & Hentrich Verlag)

Sharon On/Dirk Laucke: “Even when it’s dark” (radio play, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg)

Anetta Kahane (Amadeu Antonio Foundation) received an honorable mention from the jury for her columns in the “Frankfurter Rundschau”.

Georg Stefan Troller (1921–2025) was an Austrian-American journalist, writer and documentary filmmaker of Jewish origin who fled the National Socialists in 1938, later took part in the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp as a US soldier and lived in Paris from 1949.

He shaped German-language television journalism with series such as the “Paris Journal” and “Personal Description”. His sensitive, persistent and sometimes very subjective interview style impressed generations of journalists and documentary filmmakers. He has been associated with the Axel Springer publishing house since 2021 as a columnist for the “Literarische Welt” (WELT am Sonntag).

At the age of 103, he gave a detailed interview to Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer, in which he looked back on his life, his Jewish identity and his faith.

A detailed report on the award ceremony will be broadcast on the Phoenix station and will then also be available in the ARD media library.