Kalender

Short guided tour with Christoph Hanzig and Sebastian Rab, Hannah Arendt Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism e. V.

Using the Nazi daily newspaper *Der Freiheitskampf* as a basis, this talk examines the National Socialists’ seizure of local power in Dresden and explains how the newspaper itself benefited from this. The starting point is the front page of 15 March 1933. It triumphantly announces the dismissal of the Lord Mayor, Wilhelm Külz, with a headline and a caricature.

• With Christoph Hanzig and Sebastian Rab from the Hannah Arendt Institute for the Study of Totalitarianism e. V.

In cooperation with the Geschichtsverein e. V.

Every first Friday of the month, we shine a spotlight on an object from our permanent exhibition: in short guided tours lasting no more than 20 minutes, museum staff, members of partner organisations or members of the local community will present the unique features of a selected piece of Dresden’s history.

• Duration: 1.5 hours
• Meeting point at the ticket office
• Guided tour free of charge plus museum admission
• without registration

Gorbitz is home to around 22,000 residents, who value their peaceful neighbourhood as a great place to live. It is the district with the most green space within any of Dresden’s districts. A district (or small town) with excellent public transport links and a comprehensive 30 km/h speed limit, featuring around 30 specialist doctors, 11 nurseries, 8 schools, 4 after-school care centres, 7 children’s and youth centres, an adult education centre, a library, an indoor swimming pool, a club with its own cinema, 3 places of worship, numerous sports facilities, a volunteer fire brigade, 2 shopping centres, and 10 supermarkets and specialist shops.

With Jürgen Czytrich / neighbourhood guide

• Duration: 2 hours
• Meeting point at the ‘Betriebshof Gorbitz’ stop on lines 2/7
• Book online or via the visitor service at Dresden City Museums on +49 351 488 7272 (Mon–Fri)

The City Museum is situated in the Landhaus, just a few metres from Dresden’s Frauenkirche. The building was constructed between 1770 and 1775 to a design by the Saxon court architect Friedrich August Krubsacius as a provincial and tax office for the Saxon estates.

It is characterised by a combination of stylistic elements from the Late Baroque, Rococo and – for the first time in Dresden – Early Classicism. Following the introduction of the first Saxon constitution in 1831, which marked the Kingdom of Saxony’s transition to a constitutional monarchy, the new state parliament convened here in 1833–34.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Landhaus was converted into the seat of the state administration and extended to include a western wing. Following its destruction during the Second World War, the ruined site passed into municipal ownership.

In 1961, the City Council decided to rebuild the main building. The exterior façade was restored and the impressive staircase was reconstructed in full detail.

Introduction to the project: What is a Torah? Why has it been written by hand for over 2,500 years?

In around 35 minutes, Jahna Dahms explains the project and discusses the origins, tradition and significance of the Torah as humanity’s oldest continuous cultural practice. There will be an opportunity to ask questions afterwards. The scribe will be present during the event.

• Duration: 35 minutes
• You do not need a museum ticket for this guided tour.

Olga Martynova, Dresden’s city writer, is a phenomenon. She writes novels, poems, essays and reviews, and works as a translator and editor. And she sets high standards in all these fields.

Her novels *Even Parrots Outlive Us* (2010, nominated for the German Book Prize), *Mörike’s Collarbone* (2013, excerpt: Ingeborg Bachmann Prize 2012; for the full novel: Berlin Literature Prize 2015) and *Der Engelherd* (2016, honoured with, amongst others, the Villa Massimo Prize in Rome) are literary worlds of experience that will delight any reader who picks up these novels.

As part of the ‘Focus on Olga Martynova’ series of events, the author will present her poetry collection *In Search of the Name of the Wind* (Peter Huchel Prize 2025) in more detail.

With language that is both gentle and stirring, the collection once again evokes the loss of her husband (Oleg Jurjew died in 2018), a theme that resonates throughout almost every poem. Her defiance of death and the spirits of the underworld, whom she encounters in dreams and daydreams, is stirring and at times mocking.

Olga Martynova attempts to gain some distance. She descends into the underworld with Dante and Virgil, traces the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, and visits Kabbalists in Jerusalem. To gain some distance, she traces what has been lost in dialogue with Friedrich Hölderlin and Paul Celan (‘Celan picked in Hölderlin’s garden, bred the rose of no one from the nothingness of roses’).

‘Vu nemt men a bisele Glik’, the opening poem, sketches out the contours of the collection like an overture. The poem engages in dialogue with Friedrich Hölderlin’s poem ‘Hälfte des Lebens’ (‘Half of Life’) whilst also addressing the Jewish condition and echoes of Jean Amery and Oleg Jurjew.

In the second of the seven chapters – ‘La Speranza’ (Hope) – the magpie (Speranza) appears for the first time, subsequently serving as the poet’s wise companion and admonishing corrective: ‘Intoxicated by sobriety, people can neither think clearly nor truly feel,’ says the magpie.

In the fourth chapter, stories of death are evoked: ‘Tolstoy’s Death’, ‘Pasolini’s Death’, and also Kleist’s suicide at the Wannsee. All of this takes place in dialogue with Oleg Jurjew.

In the fifth chapter – ‘Death does not part us, but life does’ – the beloved is invoked in a series of lines: ‘We were to one another moon and stars, wine and bread, earth and fire, water and air, minutes and clock face, rain and worm, flies and frogs, crow and eye …’

Anyone who, having read this, thinks the volume is difficult to read can rest assured. Martynova’s poems are written in a calm, delicate language and speak through memorable images and metaphors.

• Presenter: Volker Sielaff

The Gorbitz prefabricated housing estate, which was built in the 1980s, has changed bit by bit over the past 25 years. Where once one block resembled another, today there is diversity, not only in the form of colourful facades, but also inside the buildings. Lifts, bathrooms with showers and windows, spacious kitchens, new balconies, tenants' gardens - all this can now be found in the "Platte" thanks to modernisations and conversions.

One outstanding and well-known conversion project is the Kräutersiedlung, which was realised between 2002 and 2004 by the Eisenbahner-Wohnungsbaugenossenschaft Dresden eG. But a lot has also happened in Gorbitz since then, and construction is still ongoing in several places.

The guiding principle has always been to preserve the strengths of prefabricated housing (e.g. spacious, green inner courtyards and compact structures) while at the same time eliminating disadvantages (e.g. small kitchens and bathrooms, six-storey buildings without lifts).

The tour leads to selected converted residential buildings and is intended to illustrate the potential of prefabricated housing and its future viability using the example of Gorbitz.

With Konstanze Mally

• Duration: 2 hours
• Meeting point at the Merianplatz tram stop (out-of-town side)
• Participation free of charge
• Registration online or at the visitor service of the Museums of the City of Dresden on +49 351 488 7272 (Mon - Fri)

• Duration: 1.5 hours
• Meeting point at the ticket office
• Guided tour free of charge plus museum admission
• without registration

Introduction to the project: What is a Torah? Why has it been written by hand for over 2,500 years?

In around 35 minutes, Jahna Dahms explains the project and discusses the origins, tradition and significance of the Torah as humanity’s oldest continuous cultural practice. There will be an opportunity to ask questions afterwards. The scribe will be present during the event.

• Duration: 35 minutes
• You do not need a museum ticket for this guided tour.

What role did Jewish citizens play in the economic life of our city? How did they shape trade, finance and industry during the German Empire and the Weimar Republic?

Selected items from our collection, now displayed in a new context, shed light on the contribution made by Jewish manufacturers, bankers and businesspeople to Dresden’s economic development and tell the story of a life firmly rooted in the heart of society.

The tour takes place in the museum café – with a view of the display case for new acquisitions. Light refreshments are provided; coffee can be obtained from the vending machine if required. In this relaxed setting, the City Museum is launching a new tour format that brings history to life through conversation.

• Guided tour free of charge (plus museum admission)
• Duration: 1.5 hours
• Book online or via the visitor service of the Museums of the City of Dresden on +49 351 488 7272 (Mon – Fri)

Guided tour of the permanent exhibition

• Duration: 1.5 h
• Guided tour free of charge plus museum admission
• Meeting point at the ticket office

Many people are currently wondering what value social cohesion holds in Germany. How are a sense of belonging and participation made possible – and what contribution do individuals make towards this? A change of perspective, stepping outside one’s own experiences, offers possible answers to these questions.

In her book *What to Bear in Mind When Having a Picnic with Germans*, the author Gundula Brunner explores various perspectives: In 2023–24, she visited former clients and held lengthy conversations with them, during which they spoke about their life journeys, experiences, thoughts, aspirations and their relationship with German society.

These are 13 deeply personal, moving stories about migrants’ arrival in Germany, focusing particularly on their experiences within and with their new society. In this respect, the stories provide a key for those born here to reflect on themselves and ‘our’ society.

The texts presented this evening – in multiple languages – by the International Writing Café of Familienleben e. V. and the ABC Tables of the Umweltzentrum Dresden e.V. offer a further shift in perspective. With depth and a touch of humour, they explore the question of what settling in Dresden means for individuals.

Over light refreshments and conversation, we’ll celebrate the solidarity and participation fostered by our projects.

Gundula Brunner was born in Dresden in 1970. She initially completed a commercial apprenticeship, before going on to study art history and law in Mainz and Modena. This was followed by periods abroad in Rome and San Francisco. Since 2001, she has been working as a self-employed lawyer, specialising primarily in immigration law in Dresden.

• Partners: Dresden City Museums, the ABC Tables run by Umweltzentrum Dresden e. V. and the International Writing Café run by Familienleben e. V.