Ms. Applebaum received the prize for her work as a researcher and author of books on the Gulag and Eastern European Communist dictatorships.

Central European University professor, former Central-Eastern European Newsweek correspondent, and spouse of Ambassador Kounalakis Markos Kounalakis delivered remarks on behalf of the U.S. Embassy. Mr. Kounalakis stressed the importance of the type of work Anne Applebaum does, as personal memories and individual stories of the sufferings in Soviet times fade and disappear over time, but collective memory can be kept alive by extraordinary books like Ms. Applebaum’s book, "Gulag: A History."

In the audience: in the first row, from left to right: Mária Schmidt, Director of Terror House Museum; Anne Applebaum and her husband, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Radoslaw Sikorski; and Tibor Navracsics, Deputy Prime Minister; in the second row State Secretary for Social Inclusion Zoltán Balog"

Photo: Mr. Kounalakis delivers his remarks (Embassy photo by Ildikó Bíró)

Source: U.S. Embassy Budapest