Literature forum in the Brecht house
The Literature Forum in the Brecht House is a literature house in Berlin-Mitte. The program includes readings, discussions, book presentations, music performances, conferences, seminars, film screenings and exhibitions. The Brecht house is on Chausseestrasse 125. The apartment on Chausseestrasse was Bertolt Brecht's and Helene Weigel's last place of residence and work . In addition to the literature forum, the Bertolt Brecht archive and the Brecht Weigel memorial with the former living quarters are located in the same building .
program
The focus of the events is a critical exchange on society, art and politics, current academic work, contemporary authors and their work and the promotion of young talent. Different event formats alternate with series of topics. The company publishes publications to accompany the program, especially on the Brecht Days. The literature forum also organizes events outside the home. Recurring event partners include the Akademie der Künste , the Berliner Ensemble , the Saarland State Representation , the Representation of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate and the Natural History Museum .
Readings, lectures and discussions
Most of the events are readings and discussions on new publications from the fields of non-fiction and fiction. The authors are usually present in person. The moderators are personalities from the fields of politics, art or science.
In addition, there are the following series of events: Annett Gröschner addresses new biographies in Narrated Time . Richard Pietraß invites poets to a conversation in the series Dichterleben and presents their work. The life testimonies events with Wolfgang Benz , who talked to contemporary witnesses about important aspects of Germany's past, have a similar format .
In cooperation with the Brecht Weigel Memorial of the Academy of the Arts, the Literature Forum offers the opportunity to visit Bertolt Brechts and Helene Weigel's historic living quarters.
Book presentations, films, exhibitions
The iterary trio , an event by Frauke Meyer-Gosau and Jörg Magenau, provides an insight into current literature events . In cooperation with Literatures , they discuss current publications with a prominent guest in the literature forum every two months.
In cooperation with Das Magazin , new publications are also presented and authors are invited. The events are moderated by Erhard Schütz .
Every now and then, film screenings enrich the program.
Numerous changing exhibitions are shown in the small hall.
Conferences and theme weeks
The Brecht Days have been held in February for thirty years : an international specialist audience comes together in the literature forum to present current scientific contributions from Brecht research together with the audience. The results will be summarized in a separate publication.
The summer program is also dedicated to various authors. There is a thematic week of events for two writers each, which consists of lectures, discussions, readings, exhibitions, film and audio testimonies. In the past, these theme weeks were for Bettina von Arnim , Walter Benjamin , Wolfgang Koeppen and Stefan Zweig .
Promotion of young talent and authors
As part of the sponsorship of authors, the literary forum annually presents the winners of the Berlin work grant for authors of the Senate Chancellery for Cultural Affairs with work samples and publications in the series of events Berliner Manuskripte .
Once a year there is a novel workshop for writers and those who want to become one. Together with an author, your own texts are viewed, revised and, at best, completed. The publications of the participants included: Johannes Groschupf Hinterhofhelden , Odile Kennel What Ida says , Katerina Poladjan In one night, somewhere else and Mechthild Lanfermann Who fishes in troubled waters .
Together with LesArt Berlin, we often organize educational events for children and young people.
history
The Brecht House Memorial was built between April 1977 and February 1978 . The Ministry of Culture of the GDR placed the order for the conversion and the faithful restoration of the building complex at Chausseestrasse 125. The reconstruction was carried out on the basis of the photos. Design elements such as egg bars, lesbian kyma, consoles, canopies and profiled bottles were recreated and attached as prefabricated elements. The aim was to keep the house in its simplicity and clarity and to honor the cultural and political achievements of Brecht with a living memorial. On February 9, 1978, the house was opened to the public. The following institutions were housed in it: the Brecht Center of the GDR, the Brecht bookstore, the secretariat of the Bertolt Brecht heirs, the Brecht Weigel memorial (living and working rooms of Bertolt Brecht and Helene Weigel) and the Bertolt Brecht -Archiv (BBA), which was taken over by the Akademie der Künste in 1973 and expanded by the Helene Weigel Archive in 1974 . The owner of the house was the Brecht Center (headed by Werner Hecht), which reports to the Ministry of Culture . The international Brecht Days took place for the first time between February 8 and 11, 1978 . From 1981 the information and communication sheet of the Brecht Center Notate appeared six times a year with 16 pages. 1981 to 1990, the Brecht Center awarded the Helene Weigel Medal (newly donated in 1981) for outstanding acting on the World Theater Day . The winners included Ulrich Mühe and Carmen-Maja Antoni. In May 1984 notate was reprimanded by the GDR Ministry of Culture. Reason: The print of two interviews (in notate 3/1984) with Heiner Müller , in which he said: “[…] Our current idyllic period, which is not idyllic at all, is not perceivable, except for very flat images in certain genres translate"
On June 10, 1990, the Brecht Center became a separate legal entity with immediate effect and was no longer subordinate to the Ministry of Culture. The Brecht bookstore and the cellar restaurant were to be privatized. All employees were dismissed as of December 31, 1990 - seven of the dismissals were canceled by mutual agreement. The last issue of notate was published in October 1990 . “The decision in favor of a newspaper that deals specifically with Brecht's work and follows its effects in today's theater on earth could not be based on market-economy considerations from the outset. The readers in over fifty countries were to a large extent theater people who hoped for support for their work. It was precisely those who had few or no resources at their disposal and who only did and do their work with great [sic] personal [sic] commitment. In not a few countries the theater of the 'poor BB' is the theater of the poor. "
On January 1, 1991, the Brecht Center was renamed BrechtZentrumBerlin . Inge Gellert took over the management. In 1992 the Brecht heirs forbade the ownership of the name. Since then, the BrechtZentrumBerlin has been run as a literature forum in the Brecht House . The society for sense and form became the sponsoring association . In 1998 Therese Hörnigk took over the management of the literary forum ; Ursula Vogel followed in 2008.
Guests of the literary forum since 1998 - a selection
image
Karsten Bartel, Sibylle Bergemann (†), Daniela Comani, Arno Fischer (†), Sarah Haffner , Barbara Honigmann , Roger Melis (†), Nuria Quevedo , Cornelia Schleime , Sarah Schumann, Volker Sieben, Reinhard Stangel u. a.
word
Wolf Biermann , Thomas Brasch (†), Volker Braun , Günter de Bruyn , Wilhelm Genazino , Hans Magnus Enzensberger , Jonathan Franzen , Durs Grünbein , Stefan Heym (†), Wolfgang Hilbig (†), Brigitte Kronauer , Günter Kunert († ), Peter Rühmkorf (†), Peter Schneider , Ingo Schulze , Günter Wallraff , Christa Wolf (†) u. a.
Film, theater, music
Frank Castorf , Marianne Hoppe (†), Wolfgang Kohlhaase , Sophie Rois , Otto Sander (†), Volker Schlöndorff , George Tabori (†), Katharina Thalbach , Michael Verhoeven u. a.
Science, politics, media, publishers
Ulla Unseld-Berkéwicz , Christina von Braun , Lothar de Maizière , Jan Philipp Reemtsma , Hazel Rosenstrauch , Friedrich Schorlemmer , Wilhelm Freiherr Speck von Sternburg , Wolfgang Thierse , Richard von Weizsäcker u. a.
Moderation
Jakob Augstein , Sigrid Löffler , Jörg Magenau , Michael Opitz, Richard Pietraß , Jörg Plath u. a.
Footnotes
- ↑ Dreigroschenheft - Information on Bert Brecht "Special Issue 25 Years Brecht House Berlin" 3/2003, p. 36
- ↑ Dr. Werner Hecht, Head of the Brecht Center: Dreigroschenheft - Information on Bert Brecht “Special Issue 25 Years Brecht House Berlin” 3/2003, p. 39
literature
Source for the history section (in excerpts): Dreigroschenheft - information on Bert Brecht “Special issue 25 years Brecht-Haus Berlin” 3/2003, pp. 27–51
Web links
Coordinates: 52 ° 31 '44.1 " N , 13 ° 23' 5" E