When I first visited Ypres in 2023, a Belgian city known for its importance during the First World War, I noticed that many British tourists visit the city, but I hardly encountered any Germans there. Therefore, I conducted a survey afterwards to find out how many people in Germany know Ypres. The result was: 95 percent never heard of it. I always planned to conduct the same survey in Great Britain and was finally able to do so when I recently travelled there. In each country, I spoke to 100...

The last three weeks, I spent in Great Britain. My main intention of this journey was to visit Coventry. After I had been in Dresden last year, I decided that I also want to see Coventry, because both cities were heavily bombed during the Second World War and share a deep connection of reconciliation as partner cities today. In the Blitz Museum, I met a man who experienced the bombing as a child, and I had the chance to interview him within the ruins of the Coventry Cathedral. It was a unique...

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...