Valentina Glajar awarded Blazyca prize

BASEES is delighted to award Valentina Glajar the 2025 George Blazyca prize for 'The Secret Police Dossier of Herta Müller: A “File Story” of Cold War Surveillance’ (Rochester, New York: Camden House, 2023).

This forensic study of celebrated Romanian-German writer Herta Müller’s Securitate file provides a gripping insight into the workings of Romania’s secret police apparatus. The future Nobel Prize winner’s “file story” – skilfully pieced together in this fast-paced study – demonstrates the ways in which the lives of Securitate officers, informers, and surveillance subjects were entwined and shaped by the prevailing system. In the process, Valentina Glajar sheds new light on the Cold War-era experiences of fragile ethnic minorities living in communist Eastern Europe, the complex interplay between the regime, its citizens, and diaspora communities, and the pervasive impact of secret police operations. By dissecting the source material in the presence of the reader, the author conveys the fragmentary picture that was constructed by the state, as well as the limitations of Securitate methods, technologies, and the pitfalls of interpreting everything from covertly recorded conversations to nuanced and award-winning literature.

The judges also commended the below works for honorable mentions:

Katarzyna Nowak, Kingdom of Barracks: Polish Displaced Persons in Allied-Occupied Germany and Austria (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2023).

Katarzyna Nowak offers a deeply researched and compelling account of Polish Displaced Persons in post-war Germany and Austria, shedding light on their struggles, resilience, and the complex politics of displacement. Through rich archival material and personal narratives, Nowak masterfully reconstructs the lives of those navigating uncertainty in Allied-occupied territories. Reminiscent of a classic in its depth and quality, this book is an essential read for scholars of migration, post-war history, and humanitarianism.

Denisa Kostovicova, Reconciliation by Stealth: How People Talk About War Crimes (Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2023).

Reconciliation by Stealth is a groundbreaking exploration of how everyday conversations shape post-conflict reconciliation. Through meticulous analysis, Kostovicova reveals the often-overlooked, informal processes that influence justice and memory in divided societies. Highly timely, this book offers crucial lessons for transitional justice, with comparative applications to ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine. A must-read for scholars, policymakers, and anyone interested in the complexities of post-war recovery.