2026 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade: Mirjam Zadoff to deliver speech honouring Philippe Sands

Mirjam Zadoff, the Austrian historian, Jewish studies scholar and director of the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism, will deliver the speech honouring Philippe Sands, recipient of this year’s Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. The award ceremony will take place at 10:45 am on Sunday 11 October 2026, the final day of the Frankfurt Book Fair. The event will be broadcast live on German television (ARD) from the Church of St. Paul in Frankfurt.

Mirjam Zadoff was born in 1974 in Innsbruck, Austria. After earning her doctorate and completing her habilitation in history and Jewish studies in Vienna and Munich, she was a professor of these subjects at Indiana University Bloomington from 2014 to 2019. She then worked as a visiting professor at universities in Zurich, Berkeley and Berlin. She is currently an honorary professor at the Technical University of Munich and an adjunct professor at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. In May 2018, she became director of the Munich Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism (nsdoku), where she oversees exhibitions, educational and outreach programmes, and innovative digital projects. She is also responsible for developing the nsdoku as a site for engaging with the history of the Nazi era. Zadoff is the author and editor of numerous books and exhibition catalogues, including Gewalt und Gedächtnis: “Globale Erinnerung im 21. Jahrhundert” (tr. Violence and memory: Global memory in the 21st century, 2023). She serves on various boards and committees, including the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, and has received numerous honours, including the Bavarian Order of Merit (2023) and the Thomas Dehler Prize (2024). Zadoff has been a member of the Peace Prize’s Board of Trustees since February 2026.

Peace Prize speeches to be published by Reclam Verlag

Soon after the award ceremony at the Church of St. Paul, the Börsen-verein will publish the speeches given by Mirjam Zadoff, Philippe Sands and all other speakers. This year, for the first time, the Peace Prize speeches will be published in book form in collaboration with the German publishing house Reclam Verlag as part of their ‘Universal-Bibliothek’ series. The bilingual book will be available in bookshops starting on 11 November.

For more information on the 2026 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, please visit www.friedenspreis-des-deutschen-buchhandels.de.

Media Service:
A press photo of Mirjam Zadoff is available for download at: www.boersenverein.de/pressefotos.