Reading & talk with Artur Weigandt: “I would fight for you”

Oldenburg:
24.06, 7 pm
CORE Oldenburg

Bremen:
25.06, 18:00
EuropaPunkt Bremen

Artur Weigandt was a convinced pacifist, for whom violence was a sign of weakness. But when bombs fell, he heard and felt the desperation of the survivors. The idealist has become a realist: If you are attacked, you have to fight back – with a weapon in your hand if necessary. He himself would also be prepared to do so. As an interpreter for Ukrainian soldiers on a German military training ground, he experienced what it means not only to translate in the midst of Leopard tanks, military routine and personal fates, but also to take a stand. This book tells of tank training and propaganda, of fatigue and courage – and of the question of what it means to take responsibility. Artur Weigandt has lived in the Czech capital Prague for several years.

We want to talk to Artur Weigandt about his life in Prague, German, Czech and European perspectives on a common security policy – and about his break with pacifism.

Moderation Bremen: Eduard Klein

Moderation Oldenburg: Hans-Christian Petersen

A cooperation of globale° e.V., Bremer Bündnis für deutsch-tschechische Zusammenarbeit e.V., Rosa-Luxemburg-Initiative Bremen, Forschungsstelle Osteuropa Bremen EuropaPunkt Bremen, Deutscher Journalistenverband Bremen, Abteilung Geschichte Europas der Neuzeit mit Schwerpunkt Osteuropa an Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg und Deutsch-Polnische Gesellschaft Oldenburg.

Note: The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation listed the German Association for East European Studies (DGO) as an “extremist organization” in July 2024. We categorically reject this classification, but consider it our duty to inform you about it.

Once a month, always on the first Monday, in the Schnoor Distille.

We meet old acquaintances and get to know new people. We philosophize about life and everything around it. We speak German and Czech.
And above all – we have fun together.

Dates

01.06.2026 at 19.00 h
06.07.2026 at 19.00 h
07.09.2026 at 19.00 h

Further dates will follow.

Address:

Schnoor Distillery
Behind the wooden gate 2
28195 Bremen

Come along to our DE-CZ PubKvíz and test your knowledge in a cozy atmosphere with old and new friends!

The screening of the film “Vlny” on 26.04.2026 unfortunately had to be canceled for technical reasons.

The alternative date for the film screening is 09.09.2026, at 18:00 in City46 (cinema 2).

Further information will follow shortly.

We warmly congratulate our friend Dora Kaprálová on winning the prestigious Magnesia Litera Award as “Book of the Year” and also the prize for prose!

She was honored for her work Mariborska hypnoza, which impresses with its special literary power and originality.

We are very happy about this well-deserved success and are proud of you, dear Dora!

Why has Europe’s former economic engine become the “sick man of the continent”? In the Studio N special filmed in Bremen in northern Germany, Filip Titlbach talks to Václav Jabůrek about his time as a foreign correspondent for Czech Radio.
The podcast was created at the festival “So macht man Frühling” 2025.

What is “East Germany”? We want to talk about a space that is usually perceived as gray, cold and politically right-wing. We want to discuss how East German lifeworlds are constructed in media representations, political debates and cultural and literary narratives between self-description and external attribution, between memory and the present.

Together with our guests, we want to discuss perspectives from research and practice that do not understand “the East” as a monolithic place, but rather make its diversity and contradictions visible. Using examples from pop culture, literature and everyday life, we want to trace processes of belonging, exclusion and identity formation.

Guests

Jakob Springfeld, author and journalist

Anna Lux and Jonas Brückner, authors of “Neon/Grey”

Vanessa Beyer, Project (K)Einheit

Moderation: Klaas Anders