The Hugo Ball Prize awarded by the German city of Pirmasens to artists, writers, and publishers was suspended due to concerns about the namesake’s antisemitism.
Ball was a prominent German author and a foundational figure of the European Dadaism movement. The prize of $10,750 is awarded once every three years and this year was supposed to go to a German filmmaker and artist Hito Steyerl. However, she told the German press that “there is no prize this year.”
The Pirmasens authorities confirmed that the nomination committee together with Steyerl and another awardee Olivia Werzel decided to suspend the award due to concerns about Ball’s antisemitism.
“At the suggestion of Hito Steyerl, the city of Pirmasens, together with the two prize winners and the nomination committee, decided to suspend the awarding of the Hugo Prize in 2023 in favor of an open debate about antisemitic clichés in Hugo Ball’s time and today,” the city’s official website said, referring to a panel discussion “on contemporary anti-Semitism in the work of Hugo Ball and its relevance to the present” that will be held on January 23.
“Antisemitic ideas were widespread in the early 20th century, and many artists also promoted such resentments. Hugo Ball did the same, for example in his 1919 publication ‘On the Critique of the German Intelligentsia,’” the statement added.
In the mentioned book, Ball shared his views on what he considered was a period of decline in Germany caused by the Jews. The discussion will also touch on the “antisemitic and racist prejudices and incidents in the present.”
