Write On

Weiter Schreiben (Write on) has invited four writers from Syria, South Sudan, Iran and Ukraine to respond to the exhibition "Roads not Taken. Or: Things could have turned out differently" at the Deutsches Historisches Museum in a literary-performative way. The event will take place in the exhibition rooms.

Dima Albitar Kalaji (Syria/Germany), Stella Gaitano (South and North Sudan/Germany) and Soroush Mozaffar Moghadam (Iran/Germany) have actively participated in peaceful protest movements in their countries of origin, which have not led to the hoped-for change but have been crushed by state repression. During war, revolution and continued oppression by violent regimes, they risked their lives to fight for democracy, freedom and human rights, were forced to flee and are now living in exile in Germany. Kateryna Mishchenko (Ukraine/Germany), had to flee to Germany in the wake of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

The authors use their literary sense of possibility to approach the exhibition's historical-philosophical approach of presenting alternative possibilities for the course of history along tipping points in German history. Their texts tell of ruptures and upheavals, discontinuities and states of limbo; they open up spaces of resonance. Following the interventions in the original languages, German-speaking authors who are part of the Weiter Schreiben network will read the respective translations.

The evening will be musically accompanied by the composer, performance artist and teacher Elshan Ghasimi (Iran/Germany). She is a master of the Persian long-necked lute Tar and classical Persian art music.

A joint event of the project Weiter Schreiben - Interventionen and the Deutsches Historisches Museum, funded by the Berlin Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion.