Reading & Talk | Moderation: Uwe Neumann (Director of the Kunsthalle Rostock)
The discussion about East Germany and the relationship between East and West flares up again and again. Be it on the occasion of anniversaries or after protests. And yet there is no progress in understanding in this debate. It goes round in circles, accusations are followed by counter-accusations: "You are dictatorship-socialized!" - "You have made us economically and symbolically small!"
November marks the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Even before then, the AfD could emerge as the strongest party in three state elections. In this situation, the "most sought-after social commentator in the country" (FAS) speaks out with a nuanced intervention. Steffen Mau examines prominent contributions and contradicts the equalization thesis according to which East Germany will become like the West over time. Due to the experiences of the GDR and the years of reunification, the East will remain different - economically, politically, but also in terms of mentality and identity. In view of the weak roots of the parties, Steffen Mau advocates trying out alternative forms of democracy and involving people more, for example through citizens' councils.
Steffen Mau, born in 1968, is Professor of Macrosociology at Humboldt University in Berlin. His book "Lütten Klein. Leben in der ostdeutschen Transformationsgesellschaft" was number one on the ZDF, ZEIT and Deutschlandfunk Kultur non-fiction bestseller lists. In 2021 he received the Leibniz Prize of the German Research Foundation, in 2023 the prize "Against Forgetting - For Democracy", among others. Together with Thomas Lux and Linus Westheuser, he is the author of the book "Triggerpunkte - Konsens und Konflikt in der Gegenwartsgesellschaft", published in 2023.
Admission: €10; €6 reduced* plus advance booking fee (Pressezentrum/mvticket.de), box office €15
* Discounts for students, school pupils, trainees and Warnowpass holders
Venue: Kunsthalle Rostock, Hamburger Str. 40, 18069 Rostock
A joint event of Kunsthalle Rostock and Literaturhaus Rostock.
