Philippe Sands Receives the 2026 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade

Who received the 2026 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade? The prize's news page, dated 11 October 2026, says the French-British lawyer and author Philippe Sands was awarded the Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels that day in Frankfurt's Paulskirche. About 700 invited guests were there, among them Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Federal Minister of Justice Stefanie Hubig, Bundestag Vice President Omid Nouripour, and Timon Gremmels, the Hessian state minister for science and research, the arts, and culture.

Mirjam Zadoff gave the laudation. The news page describes her as an Austrian scholar of Jewish studies, a historian, and director of the NS-Dokumentationszentrum München. It titles the acceptance speech "Der Albatros des Schweigens."

The Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels has given the prize at the close of the Frankfurt Book Fair since 1950. The page says it is endowed with 25,000 euros. Earlier recipients it names include Albert Schweitzer, Astrid Lindgren, Václav Havel, Susan Sontag, Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, and Anne Applebaum. Last year's recipient was Karl Schlögel.

The jury statement, and who he is

The English text on the prize site opens the jury statement: "One of the most important intellectual voices of our time, Philippe Sands is a French-British lawyer and writer who advocates for justice, peace and the unwavering defence of international law." It says he is descended from Holocaust survivors and draws on his family history to trace that law, "illuminating the experiences that lie behind the legal concepts of »genocide« and »crimes against humanity«." It says the campaign to establish ecocide as a criminal offence before the International Court of Justice "stems from his initiative."

The biography on that page says he was born on 17 October 1960 in London, is a professor of international law at University College London and a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, and appears as counsel at the International Court of Justice. It says that since 2016 he has also worked as a literary author, alongside legal articles and textbooks.

What the posted English speech says

The prize site has posted an English text of the acceptance speech, "The albatross of silence," and credits the translation to Thomas Bertram. Sands says the award is special "because the subject of peace is at the heart of themes that permeate my work," including "the burden and dangers of silence" and "the indispensability of the rule of law."

The posted text states: "Peace requires justice. Justice requires rules. Rules require law. And laws apply universally, not selectively. This is what the rule of law means." Later: "This is the time to stand up for them, not be silent; a time to face the facts, to uphold our principles, to build on them. It is a time to resist, not despair, for the rule of law is a long game."

He says: "Next April, I will publish The Fifth Crime, a plea to add another international crime to the four that protect we humans." He says that crime is called ecocide.

The speech calls the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023 appalling. It says he joined other British, Jewish lawyers, including a former President of the Supreme Court, in a Financial Times column with three points: Hamas's actions on the territory of Israel were "an egregious violation of basic norms of international law"; like any state, Israel had a right to respond in self-defence; and that right "was not unlimited and must be exercised within the limits of international law." He says he stands by those points.

The posted text says international crimes were committed on the territory of Israel on 7 October and then on the territory of Palestine, in Gaza and in the West Bank. It says: "To kill as a war crime or a crime against humanity is not less grave than a genocide. These are all terrible crimes." It says they demand accountability and must be called out.

On Germany, the text says the country has called out horrors "from the Yazidis to the Uighurs, from Syria to Iran, from Myanmar to Sudan and Ukraine," and then: "Yet on Israel, Gaza and the West Bank the German silence has been loud." Sands says some German leaders "have begun to speak more sharply in their criticism of Israel's actions. That is right, even if so tentative and limited. It is not anti-semitic. It is not ›anti-Israel‹. It is truth."

He closes: "This is what I know: silence is not the way. Not for a family. Not for a community. Not for a country." And: "Let us know that silence shall hang like an albatross around our necks."

The other speakers, and the book of the day

Zadoff's English text on the prize site says: "We also honour a storyteller whose books combine literary excellence with historical precision." Sebastian Guggolz says narrative non-fiction has given Sands "a form of expression that brings rendered judgements back into their full complexity." Frankfurt's lord mayor, Mike Josef, says: "Fascism and antisemitism are never the solution; they are always the problem."

The 11 October news page says a book of the speeches will be available in bookshops from 11 November 2026. It names Reclam Verlag, ISBN 978-3-15-014840-2, at 10 euros. The prize site lists the same book as a German/English edition of about 100 pages.

Why it matters for authors

The prize is given by the publishers' and booksellers' association, on the fair's last day. The Börsenverein has awarded it since 1950. This year's ceremony was in the Paulskirche, and the association's chairman was among the speakers.

The citation is about the books as well as the cases. The jury statement ties the honour to Sands's writing and to the ecocide campaign. The biography on the prize site dates his literary work, alongside textbooks and articles, to 2016. The speech names a book still ahead, The Fifth Crime, for next April.

The ceremony becomes a book next month. Reclam is publishing the speeches from 11 November 2026, at 10 euros, under ISBN 978-3-15-014840-2. The English acceptance text now on the prize site is credited as Thomas Bertram's translation.

Sources

• Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels: Philippe Sands mit dem Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels 2026 ausgezeichnet (11 October 2026)
• Peace Prize of the German Book Trade: Philippe Sands (jury statement, biography, and English texts of the ceremony speeches)