Erich Mühsam Society

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Stumbling stone in memory of Erich Mühsam

The Erich Mühsam Society was founded on the 111th birthday of Erich Mühsam on April 6, 1989 in Lübeck . It aims to inform about the anarchist author and to make his works accessible to an interested public.

Society

As a registered association (eV), the Erich-Mühsam-Gesellschaft (EMG) claims to be “ politically, racially and denominationally neutral ” and would like to preserve the memory of the anarchist writer for the future. In the spirit of Mühsam, the EMG wants to work for social justice, peace and human dignity; use against oppression and discrimination with the anarchist's libertarian literature.

The voluntary work is financed from donations, contributions and the sale of publications. Once a year there is an Erich Mühsam conference in Malente with readings, lectures, discussion groups and other things.

The board consists of seven people; the internal content and objectives are determined by the active members. Events are part of the company's activities, such as B. " Domination-free social models in the past and present, as well as perspectives for the future " (Erich-Mühsam-Gesellschaft). Hardly was known as a playwright, cabaret artist, speaker, illustrator, author of anarchist works and as a poet. The Mühsam-Gesellschaft publishes two series of publications for the information of the versatile writer; the “ Mühsam Magazine ” and “ Writings of the Erich Mühsam Society ”. There is also an extensive archive in the Lübeck Buddenbrookhaus .

Erich Mühsam Prize

Every two years the Erich Mühsam Society awards the Erich Mühsam Prize ; This is endowed with 3,000 euros for the scientific analysis of the life and work of Mühsam and for people who show moral courage by campaigning for social justice and persecuted minorities. The prize was brought into being by the company's co-founder, the Lübeck gallery owner and publisher Frank-Thomas Gaulin, and has been financed by him to this day.

Previous winners: 1993 Graswurzelwerkstatt Cologne; 1995 Andreas Speck; 1997 asylum group Ostertor in Bremen and the Lübeck alliance against racism ; 1999 Dietrich Kittner ; 2001 Mumia Abu-Jamal ; 2003 daily newspaper “ Junge Welt ”; 2005 Felicia Langer ; 2007 Committee for Fundamental Rights and Democracy ; 2009 Gunter Demnig ; 2013 Publishers Andreas W. Hohmann ( Edition AV ) and Jochen Schmück ; 2016 Konstantin Wecker .

Erich Mühsam Festival

Independently of the association, the poet Manja Präkels and her music group Der Singende Tresen organized the first Erich Mühsam Festival in 2001 at Fort Hahneberg, Berlin-Spandau. A year later, the festival already had a "festival character". Readings and three theatrical performances were held; sixteen music groups performed and short films were shown by the Berlin International Short Film Festival (interfilm). Representatives of the Erich Mühsam Society were also present. The third festival was held in Berlin in 2003 as a benefit for the victims of the Iraq war. Laborious anti-militarism was brought to the fore here. Organizers, artists, speakers, in short all those actively involved, waived their fees. The last three-day festival took place in 2004 on the 70th anniversary of Mühsam's death. The focus was on "Fascism and intolerance in today's society" . This festival with 120 artists and 1,600 spectators was organized by just four people. In June 2011 the ASJ organized a smaller Erich Mühsam festival. On the 80th anniversary of Mühsam's murder in summer 2014, the group around Manja Präkels brought the Erich Mühsam Fest back to life in its original festival form.

criticism

The association is criticized for having chosen the phrase “racially neutral” as a self-description. Using the word “racial” serves to construct racist images of man and is thus a form of discrimination.

literature

  • Constanze Eisenbart: Erich Mühsam - Anarchism as a dream of humanity and justice. In: Hans Diefenbacher (Ed.): Anarchism - On the history and idea of ​​a society free of domination . Primus Verlag, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1996, ISBN 3-89678-013-1 .
  • Bernd Drücke : Between a desk and a street battle? Anarchism and Libertarian Press in East and West Germany. Mühsam-Magazin, Ulm 1998, ISBN 3-932577-05-1 , p. 323f

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Articles of Association Quoted from: The Articles of Association of the Erich Mühsam Gesellschaft e. V.
  2. ↑ Poems by Erich Mühsam
  3. ↑ See on this: B. Drücke, Between Desk and Street Battle, pp. 323-324
  4. ^ Lübecker Nachrichten , September 8, 2016, page I.
  5. ↑ http://andreasspeck.info/de , accessed on April 6, 2013
  6. ↑ http://erichmuehsamfest.de/ accessed on March 12, 2014