British historian donates $50,000 Gelber Prize to Ukrainian military

Oxford professor, historian, author, and commentator Timothy Garton Ash donated his $50,000 CAD ($36,700 USD) award to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Ash received the 2024 Lionel Gelber Prize for his book “Homelands: A Personal History of Europe.”

The author came to Kyiv on May 16 to present his book describing events between World War II and the Russia-Ukraine war. The Ukrainian translation of Ash’s book was published by the Kharkiv publisher “Vivat,” the second-largest publishing house in Ukraine.

Ash and the “Come Back Alive” Foundation provided aid to the 409th Separate Rifle Battalion of the 22nd Mechanized Brigade.

“I can’t imagine a better use of the prize money I received for my book on modern European history than to donate it to buy equipment for the Ukrainian Armed Forces for victory,” the historian commented. “The future of the entire Europe is at stake in this war, after all.”

Ash and members of the foundation delivered the following equipment to Andrii Pidlisny, commander of 409 Separate Rifle Battalion:

• four DJI Mavic 3T quadcopters;
• 10 thermal imaging monoculars;
• 10 night vision monoculars; and
• four Minox monoculars.

“What Timothy Garton Ash did is an example of how we not only should know history, but also be ready to influence it by defending justice,” spoke the representative of the foundation.

Timothy Garton Ash is a renowned historian, Oxford professor, and author of 10 books on the modern history of Europe and numerous articles about modern Ukraine.

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Copy editing: Joy Tataryn, Terra Friedman King