This year’s Leon Zelman Prize for Dialogue and Understanding is awarded to historian Johannes Glack for his outstanding scientific achievements
as well as his extraordinary commitment to civil society.
Since 2013, the Leon Zelman Prize has been awarded to people or organizations that are actively committed to the memory of the Shoah in the spirit of Leon Zelman (1928-2007). But the prize also honors special civil society efforts, action against anti-Semitism, racism, and xenophobia, as well as educational and youth work including projects that promote intercultural dialogue. It is a tribute to the long-time director of the Jewish Welcome Service and publisher of the magazine “The Jewish Echo.”
In 2026, the prize was updated and the jury was newly appointed with renowned historians, including
Gabriele Anderl, Michaela Raggam-Blesch, Isolde Vogel, and Florian Wenninger, as well as Daniel Löcker, Scientific Advisor for the City of Vienna. The prize is endowed with 5,000 euros and donated by the City of Vienna. The award ceremony will take place at Vienna City Hall in the fall.
The jury explains its decision as follows:
“Historian Johannes Glack is to be distinguished with this award for his outstanding scientific achievements as well as his extraordinary commitment to civil society. In his research, he makes an important contribution to the analysis of Nazi persecution and its consequences, in particular through his work on displaced persons with health limitations—a subject area that is also closely connected to the biography of the award’s namesake, Leon Zelman.
Beyond this, Glack has made a name for himself in research on perpetrators and effectively challenges, in the public sphere, a long-standing narrative in Austria that focuses on victims.
His international activity—including through his cooperation with Yad Vashem and as a fellow at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington—reflects the great relevance and recognition of his work.
At the same time, Johannes Glack is intensively involved in educational and remembrance work: He has already organized numerous public talks with contemporary witnesses in Vienna, promotes interaction with survivors and their descendants, and actively resists anti-Semitism and the forgetting of history.
By combining excellent research, social commitment, and a living culture of remembrance, Johannes Glack honors the concerns of the prize in a special way and makes a substantial contribution towards dialogue and understanding.”
OTS press release:
