Reading and discussion with Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk
As part of Freedom Week, the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial invites to a reading and discussion with Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk on November 12 at 6 pm.
Image gallery
Das Cover des Buches zeigt das Porträt von Walter Ulbricht.
Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk is a historian and journalist as well as scientific advisor to the management of the Berlin DDR Museum. He is one of the most renowned German experts on the history of the GDR and communism and one of the most prominent voices analyzing the current situation in (East) Germany. In June 2025, he was awarded the Karl Wilhelm Fricke Prize.
His protagonist Walter Ulbricht shaped German history in the 20th century like few others. The first volume of Kowalczuk's monumental biography met with a brilliant public response. This has now been followed by the second volume, which shows how the German communist became a communist dictator. When he returned to Germany from Soviet emigration in 1945, Ulbricht was already the most important functionary of the German communists for Moscow. Under Stalin's guidance, he pushed for the forced unification of the KPD and SPD to form the SED and founded the GDR. He crushed the popular uprising of June 17, 1953 and had the Wall built that will forever be associated with his name.
Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk has researched this extraordinary life in an age of extremes more thoroughly than anyone before him. His impressive study will remain a standard work for a long time to come: on the history of the GDR, German communism and the 20th century.
(IN GERMAN)
Additional information
Booking: Contact form for the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial: Registration
Or to veranstaltungen@stiftung-hsh.de
Or to veranstaltungen@stiftung-hsh.de
Dates
November 2025
| Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa | Su |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1
|
2
| |||||
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
24
|
25
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
30
|
