The German Publishers and Booksellers Association's Foundation for Book Culture and Reading Promotion acknowledges excellent nonfiction books written in German that stimulate social debate with this award. On June 14, 2021, the inaugural award ceremony was held.
„We have been planning the German-Nonfiction-Prize for a long time, and now it has finally come at just the right time. Not only triggered by the Corona pandemic, our society is facing important questions and decisions..“
Sources: Deutscher Sachbuchpreis 2021
Head of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association
Reasoning of the jury:
"In his biography of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Jürgen Kaube completely abandons the heroic narrative type. He portrays the philosopher as a guy who recognizes and thinks through the inconsistencies of the moment of upheaval around 1800, but fails to recognize their revolutionary potential, such as when it comes to women's demands to freedom. Intellectual history, according to Kaube, is cultural history, and Hegel's strength was his willingness to immerse himself in all disciplines of knowledge while questioning his own conclusions. This involvement with a changing world is what makes Hegel so exciting for today, when unbiased thought must contend with false certainty, anti-science sentiment, and the exclusion of the weaker."
Sources: Deutscher Sachbuchpreis 2021