Readings in Brandenburg and Saxony

The last weeks I spent in Brandenburg and Saxony to give eight readings in Burg/Spreewald, Großräschen, Finsterwalde and Wilthen.

I found these places located in the Lusatia (Lausitz) region very interesting due to the presence of the Sorbian language and culture. The Sorbs are a West Slavic recognised and protected national minority. Therefore, many public texts like place name signs are bilingual, such as Cottbus/Chóśebuz or Bautzen/Budyšin. In one of the schools where I gave readings, the Sorbian language is even offered as a subject.

Another aspect I encountered in eastern Germany was the tense political situation. In several cases, teachers informed me that some of their students are deeply involved in the right-wing extremist scene and might show it openly. One school in which I gave a reading had been in the media several times due to incidences. During my stay, I personally didn’t notice anything specific within the schools, neither during the readings. In Saxony however, I witnessed people in the public playing National Socialist songs and shouting utterances associated with this time, both being prohibited by German law. For me, having given readings on the same day about the Second World War, illustrating where this ideology had led to, it was strange to witness people afterwards who glorify it.

Apart from that, I visited the foundation “Stiftung Brandenburg” in Fürstenwalde/Spree for my research. The institution includes an archive, a little exhibition and a library in order to document and to preserve the cultural heritage of the historical East Brandenburg region. I was happy to meet Kathrin Hirthammer who supplied me with archive records and was a big help for my research.

One of the highlights of the last weeks was an event in Potsdam. Mareen Behrendt-Deter published her book “Geschenke aus dem Nichts: Eine wahre Geschichte für mehr Leichtigkeit im Leben” which I had worked on as a co-author together with her. In her book, she tells her story about a heavy car accident, the loss of her three-year old son to a brain tumour and suffering from a burnout. She describes how she overcame these experiences and found more easiness in her life. With her story, she aims to encourage other people in similar situations. In Potsdam, she gave her first reading, and I took the role of the moderator. After having worked together only online, it was great to meet her personally for the first time and to get to know people from her environment who also occur in the book. Particularly I am happy to follow the development of Mareens book after the publication, with published newspaper articles and fully booked readings.

From now on, due to the summer holiday period of the schools, there will be a two months’ break from my readings in which I will dedicate myself to other projects and do some research in England and Ypres (Belgium). The reading tour continues at the end of August.