History’s warnings are often first sounded by its satirists. Kurt Tucholsky (1890-1935) was a German-Jewish journalist, anti-militarist, and staunch critic of the German Nazi Party. Using his pen and his words, he warned the Weimar Republic against the rising tide of Nazism. To escape persecution, Tucholsky fled to Sweden. His works and writings were later destroyed during the 1933 Nazi book burnings, and his German citizenship was officially revoked.
Tucholsky was one of the most prolific and versatile voices of his time, famously writing for the journal Die Weltbühne under four different pseudonyms (Kaspar Hauser, Peter Panter, Theobald Tiger, and Ignaz Wrobel). His works ranged from the 1931 novel “Schloss Gripsholm,” to scathing political satires—such as his 1931 piece “The Soldier,” which contained the notorious phrase: “Soldiers are murderers.”
His exile in Sweden, however, was a crushing spiritual and creative isolation. Severed from his language and audience, he watched in despair as his predictions came true, feeling his words were utterly powerless against the Nazi regime. This depression ultimately consumed him, leading to his death by overdose in 1935.
His legacy, however, endured in the form of defiant speech in the face of tyranny. It is this legacy that Swedish PEN (founded in 1922) chose to honor when it established the Tucholsky Prize in 1985.
The award is specifically granted to a writer or publisher who is persecuted, threatened, or living in exile in their fight. Its list of laureates includes major figures such as Polish poet Adam Zagajewski (the first recipient in 1985), Belarusian Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich (1996), and other writers imprisoned for their work, such as Dawit Isaak (2009) and Gui Minhai (2019).
This year, on Nov. 15, The Day of the Imprisoned Writer, this prize creates a bridge across decades. The 2025 laureate is Phạm Đoan Trang, a Vietnamese author and journalist who, like Tucholsky, has been targeted by her own government for her words.
Unlike Tucholsky, Trang is not in exile. She is, instead, a political prisoner currently serving a nine-year sentence for “propaganda against the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam.”
Honored by Swedish PEN for her “tireless struggle for freedom of speech,” Trang is the co-founder of the Nhà xuất bản Tự Do (Liberal Publishing House) and author of Chính trị bình dân (Politics for the Mass). She is also the co-founder of the online publications Luật Khoa Tạp chí and The Vietnamese Magazine. Her work is a testament to the same unwavering courage Tucholsky championed, proving that the fight for free expression remains as pressing and urgent as ever.
