Kundera vs. Havel: Zwist der Freiheit // Vortrag & Szenische Lesung

In the organizer's words:

Lecture & staged reading of original texts with Leonie Hämer, Staatsschauspiel Dresden

After the suppression of the Prague Spring, the international literary figure Milan Kundera and the later poet president Václav Havel engaged in a journalistic debate that is now known as "The Czech Fate". It was about their different views on freedom, morality and politics.

Kundera saw a special role for Czechoslovakia between the systems, while Havel sharply disagreed. As is well known, Milan Kundera emigrated to France in 1975, while Václav Havel remained in Czechoslovakia as an uncomfortable dissident and emigrated several times.

• Prague historian Dr. Kristina Andělová explains the background to this sometimes personal dispute. She explains the reformers' concepts of freedom at the time and shows why the Prague Spring enjoys little popularity in the Czech Republic today.
• Musical nuances: Philipp Gottesleben, e-cello

In cooperation with the Czech-German Culture Days and the Federal Agency for Civic Education

Price information:

Reduced admission for: Pupils and trainees over the age of 16, students, citizens' allowance recipients, asylum seekers, people in the Federal Voluntary Service or FSJ, holders of the volunteer pass and severely disabled people with a degree of disability of 50% or more