24.06.2025

What traces did the suppression of the Prague Spring and the Solidarność movement leave behind? What did these experiences mean for the concepts of freedom and different understandings of the state after 1989? What distinguishes these processes in the East Central European states from the transformation phase in reunified Germany? How do these three countries relate today to questions of security, nation and Western democracy and how do they relate to Putin's Russia? What is their attitude towards freedom in the face of noisy right-wing populism? Have they already reached the end of illusions?

These panel guests from Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany are looking for answers to these and other questions:

Marko Martin, born in 1970 in Burgstädt, left the GDR in May 1989 as a conscientious objector and lives as a writer in Berlin. His publications include the essay collections Dissidentisches Denken and "Brauchen wir Ketzer?" Voices against power.

Radka Denemarková, born 1968 in Kutná Hora, is a Czech author, playwright, screenwriter, essayist and translator of German literature. Her novel Hours of Lead was awarded the "Brücke Berlin" prize in 2022.

Ireneusz Paweł Karolewski, born in Skierniewice in 1971, is Professor of Political Theory and Democracy Research at the University of Leipzig. He previously taught at the University of Wrocław and the University of Potsdam. He has held visiting professorships at Harvard University, the University of Montréal and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research interests include democratic theory, nationalism, citizenship and collective identities.

Moderator: Tamina Kutscher, journalist, moderator and expert on Eastern Europe

Tickets for the event are available in the e-shop of the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum and cost 3 euros (concessions 1.50 euros).

(This is an automatic translation by DeepL Translator.)