Sergiy Maidukov refused to receive the Remarque Peace Prize at the same time as the Russian

Ukrainian illustrator Sergiy Maidukov has refused to receive the Erich Maria Remarque Peace Prize 2023 together with Russian writer Lyudmila Ulitskaya. He announced this in a letter to the prize committee.

The winner of the prize in 2023 is Russian writer Lyudmila Ulitskaya. She will receive the award on June 22, the day of Remarque’s 125th birthday.

According to Prof. Dr. Susanne Menzel-Riedl, chair of the jury, this year’s Remarque Peace Prize should be interpreted as a sign of hope for reconciliation. “The last word must be the language of humanity, which also unites people of hostile states. The violence of war must not silence the language of literature and art,” she said.

“That is why we hoped to invite a writer from Russia and an artist from Ukraine to Osnabrück to honor them with the Remarque Peace Prize and the special prize,” adds the jury’s vice chair, Osnabrück Mayor Katharina Pötter.

Sergiy Maidukov refused to receive the award on the same day as Ulitskaya. “It came as a surprise to me that I was chosen, I received a letter about a month ago. At first I said that I would come some other time, but in further correspondence I wrote that I would not come at all. I want to deposit most of the money in a Monobank account, where I am collecting money for a car for the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” he told Chytomo.

The Erich Maria Remarque Peace Prize has been awarded by the German city of Osnabrück every two years since 1991. In 2023, the prize will be awarded for the sixteenth time.

In 2005, a special award was given to Yuri Andrukhovych.

Among the laureates are Tony Judt, Svetlana Alexiyivich, Ali Ahmad Said Esber, Lev Kopelev and others. Among the people who received special awards are Russian Navy officer Grigory Pasko and the Russian Human Rights and Social Welfare MEMORIAL.

For a full list of laureates and special awards, please follow the link.

As previously reported, Sergiy Maidukov’s art book “KYIV” and Anna Sarvira’s series of illustrations “The Plan” became winners of an international competition for graphic design and illustration, the Joseph Binder Award. 

Photo: Alina Pankova/The Ukrainians