On the evening of Friday, November 10, at the Deutsche Telekom’s Berlin Representative Office, the American Academy in Berlin awarded the 2023 Henry A. Kissinger Prize to Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, for his outstanding contributions to the transatlantic partnership. Stoltenberg’s commitment to the Atlantic Alliance, Norway, and the international community is beyond measure, having served as Prime Minister of Norway for nearly a decade, following two ministerial posts, and now his tenth year as Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It is for this current position in particular that the American Academy recognized the historic role Stoltenberg has played in rallying NATO members to support Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression. In addition to his work for the defense of freedom in Ukraine, the Secretary General has demonstrated remarkable diplomatic skill and resolve during multiple rounds of NATO-membership enlargement. For these accomplishments and his tireless efforts in sustaining and strengthening our community of democracies and advancing its core values, the American Academy is proud to award Jens Stoltenberg with the 2023 Henry A. Kissinger Prize.

Laudations for Secretary General Stoltenberg were delivered by the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and Speaker Emerita of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.

Read President Steinmeier’s speech in English.

Read President Steinmeier’s speech in German. 

Read Nancy Pelosi’s speech.

Read NATO’s coverage of the evening and Secretery General Jens Stoltenberg’s acceptance speech. 

Read Daniel Benjamin’s welcoming remarks.

Read the American Academy in Berlin’s press release in English.

Lesen Sie die Pressemitteilung der American Academy in Berlin auf Deutsch.

The 2023 Henry A. Kissinger Prize was generously underwritten with lead and presenting sponsorship from Bloomberg Philanthropies and Mercedes-Benz Group AG; supporting sponsorship was provided by Bank of America, Bayer AG, Clayton, Dubilier & Rice LLC, and Microsoft Corporation. Additional funding was provided by Deutsche Bank AG, Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA, and Robert Bosch GmbH.

The Henry A. Kissinger Prize was established to honor the founding chairman of the American Academy in Berlin. Previous recipients of the prize are: former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt (2007); forty-first president of the United States George H.W. Bush (2008); former president of Germany Richard von Weizsäcker (2009); business leader, philanthropist, and former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (2010); former German chancellor Helmut Kohl (2011); former US secretary of state George P. Shultz (2012); Munich Security Conference founder Ewald-Heinrich von Kleist (posthumous, 2013); former US secretary of state James A. Baker, III (2014); former president of Italy Giorgio Napolitano and former German foreign minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher (2015); former US ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power (2016); former German minister of finance Wolfgang Schäuble (2018); US senator John McCain (2018); German chancellor Angela Merkel (2020); former US secretary of defense James N. Mattis (2021); and the president of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier (2022).