DDR direkt. Writing Workers

“Pick up your pen, comrade!” – under this slogan, workers in the GDR were encouraged to become writers themselves. In workplace writing groups, they produced poems, stories and prose texts about work and everyday life, hopes, longings and political convictions.

Anna Martha and Thomas Hartung went looking for traces in the Archive for Writing Workers and discovered voices from a vanished society: sometimes entirely in line with official ideology, sometimes full of nuances, contradictions and cautious criticism. In their reading and performance DDR direkt, they bring these surprising texts to life again – about factory floors and the shortage of housing, the collective, football and big dreams. Accompanied by music by Christian Beckers, the event offers an unusual perspective on literature, everyday life and lived experience in the GDR.

Admission from 18:30, start of event 19:00.

Location:
Stasi-Zentrale. Campus für Demokratie.
Raum 427, Haus 7
Normannenstraße 21a
10365 Berlin

Not barrier-free.

DDRdirekt is a joint project of the Lichtenberg District Economic Development Agency and the Federal Archives—Stasi Records Archive. The project is funded by a grant from the Senate Department for Economics, Energy, and Public Enterprises as part of the budget for special tourism projects.