UM/BRUCH - Transformation Society East 1989-1994

Together with contemporary witnesses, experts and committed and interested citizens, we will discuss how queer movements organised themselves at the end of the GDR, what scope they had to bring their interests and perspectives into the transformation process, and how these have changed to this day.

The theme day consists of two events:

6 December, 2-4 p.m., Sonntags-Club Berlin:
Storytelling café In the storytelling café, we invite you to chat with contemporary witnesses who were involved in the fight for queer rights during the period of upheaval in a relaxed atmosphere over coffee and cake. We are pleased to welcome Pat Wunderlich and Christiane Seefeld, among others.

7 December, 6-8 p.m., Berlin Wall Memorial:
Panel discussion Questions about the queer movement during the period of upheaval will be discussed on the panel and with the audience. What did the fall of the Wall mean for queer people in the GDR, what opportunities for change arose, and what memories shape the queer perspective on the period of transformation today?

The discussion will feature

Barbara Wallbraun, director of the documentary film ‘Uferfrauen – Lesbisch L(i)eben in der DDR’ (Women on the Shore – Lesbian Love in the GDR), Paula Kreutzmann, who researches queer movements in the social democratisation of East Germany and Berlin during the transformation period, and Peter Rausch, who has been active in queer emancipation groups in (East) Berlin since the 1970s.

The discussion will be moderated by Liane von Billerbeck.

Admission to both events is free of charge, and registration is not required.