ANNE APPLEBAUM
Anne Applebaum is a renowned journalist, historian, and author who has made significant contributions to our understanding of totalitarianism, Eastern European history, and contemporary politics.
As a child, she was intrigued by stories of her family's roots in Belarus, perceiving their shifting and uncertain identities of origin. She excelled in school, receiving her Bachelor of Arts in History and Literature from Yale University and her Master's in International Relations from the London School of Economics.
In 1985, she decided to spend the summer in Leningrad, in the former Soviet Union—a decision that changed her worldview.As a correspondent for the Economist magazine, she moved to Poland in 1988 and, shortly after, reported on the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
She has written extensively about the history of communism and the development of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe.Anne has authored several highly acclaimed books. Her 2004 work "Gulag: A History" won the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction, providing a comprehensive account of the Soviet concentration camp system. Her subsequent books include "Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956," which won the 2012 Cundill Prize for Historical Literature, and "Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine," which received the Lionel Gelber Prize and the Duff Cooper Prize in 2018.
Anne is currently a staff writer for the Atlantic and Senior Fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, where she co-directs Arena, a program on disinformation and 21st-century propaganda.
In recent years, Anne has continued to shape discourse on democracy and authoritarianism. Her 2020 book "Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism" was named one of Barack Obama's favorite reads of that year and analyzed why some Western intellectuals and politicians have embraced autocracy.
Most recently, her 2024 book "Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World" became a New York Times bestseller and was recognized as a "Best Book of the Year" by The Economist, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, and The Times. In this work, she examines how modern dictatorships—including Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea—collaborate to support one another and undermine democratic nations.
Anne's contributions to journalism and historical scholarship have earned her significant recognition. In 2024, she was awarded the prestigious Peace Prize of the German Book Trade. She continues to be an influential voice on global affairs, delivering keynote addresses at major events including the opening address at the Salzburg Festival in July 2025.
Through her writing and speaking engagements, she remains at the forefront of analyzing the threats facing liberal democracy in the 21st century.
