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Readings IN DIALOGUE 
Tickets

A literary series to accompany the exhibition 

February 20, 2025, 7 PM 
March 6, 2025, 7 PM 
April 10, 2025, 7 PM  
May 15, 2025, 7 PM 

Monthly readings will take place to accompany the current exhibition IN DIALOGUE — Hasso Plattner Collection: Art from the GDR, inviting visitors to engage in a literary examination of the GDR and its critical resonance in the present day.  

Building upon the exhibition’s idea of bringing works by GDR artists into  dialogue in order to illuminate different perspectives, authors will offer insights from literature, explore new narratives, and place the stories about the GDR in a contemporary context. 

Renowned authors such as Charlotte Gneuß, Carolin Würfel, Annett Gröschner, Peggy Mädler, Wenke Seemann, Paula Fürstenberg, and Peggy Kurka present their books in a variety of ways. 

The readings, moderated by Maria-Christina Piwowarski, take place once a month in Café Hedwig or in the foyer of DAS MINSK. The event ticket includes a visit to the exhibition from 5 PM. The events are in German.  

Dates for June and July 2025 will follow. Further information will be announced shortly.  

Carolin Würfel  © Lea Hopp

Thursday, March 6, 2025, 7 PM 

Carolin Würfel: Drei Frauen träumten vom Sozialismus, 2022 

A portrait of three literary icons of the GDR 

Christa Wolf, Brigitte Reimann, Maxie Wander—were these three women who became icons of GDR literature dreamers or doers? In her atmospheric portrait, Carolin Würfel depicts three female writers who could hardly be more different in temperament and yet share one thing in common: their enthusiasm for the promise of socialism and their willingness to realize the dream of the new man in their everyday lives, their work, and their relationships. (Hanser Berlin) 

In her portrait, Carolin Würfel brings a piece of 1950s and 1960s contemporary history to life. She describes the everyday lives of three GDR artists and their firm belief in socialism. Many small examples are often used to explain in concrete terms what it meant to believe in socialism as a utopia while also directly experiencing the failure of the GDR. 

The author will read from her book at Café Hedwig and discuss related topics with Maria-Christina Piwowarski like reclaiming the narrative of the East and exploring a modern view of socialism. 
 

About the author

Carolin Würfel was born in Leipzig in 1986 and studied history and journalism in Berlin and Istanbul. She works as a freelance author and journalist, in particular for the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT. 

Short biography Maria-Christina Piwowarski

Maria-Christina Piwowarski was born in Haldensleben in 1982 and grew up in a small village in the Magdeburger Börde. She is a trained bookseller and most recently managed the Berlin bookshop ocelot. Together with Ludwig Lohmann, she has been running the blauschwarzberlin literature podcast since 2019, which has been broadcast as a livestream from the Staatsbibliothek Berlin since the fall. She moderates readings and events in the cultural sector and writes. In fall 2024, she published the anthology Und ich - 20 Geschichten von Wendepunkten des Lebens

Maria-Christina Piwowarski © Andreas Schmidt