Kaleb Erdmann »Die Ausweichschule«

In the organizer's words:

January 26, 2026 / 7.30 pm / Literature Café

Kaleb Erdmann "The alternative school"

On the last day of the Abitur exams in 2002, shots are fired at Erfurt's Gutenberg-Gymnasium. Our narrator experiences this day as an eleven-year-old, is evacuated with his classmates and, in the weeks that follow, registers the helplessness of the adults in the face of this act. More than twenty years later, the event unexpectedly bursts into his life again and triggers an obsessive preoccupation with the subject, which is to result in a novel project. But why reopen old wounds after so many years? Does he have the right to do so? What about his memories, which stories did he tell so often that they became true?

"Die Ausweichschule" is a skillful play with perspectives, a piece of autofiction that is as critical of the public (how voyeuristic is our interest in coming to terms with acts of violence?) as it is autocritical (what gives me the right to write about this day?). A trenchant, personal, harrowing text about a phenomenon that concerns us worldwide.

Kaleb Erdmann, born in 1991, studied Literary Writing at DLL, as well as Sociology and Political Theory. He was a finalist in the open mike, and his first novel "wir sind pioniere" was awarded the LitCologne debut prize. Most recently, he wrote the play "Always Carrey On" for the Berliner Ensemble.

Admission: 10,- / 7,- EUR

Event organized by Literaturhaus Leipzig e.V.