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The new wall

A continuation of the conversation about the East

2/19

Thursday | 2/19/2026
7:30 pm Start of Concert
Kulturpalast, Konzertsaal
Prices:
15 € 
13 € only at the box office upon presentation of a library card

Ermäßigte Preise:
from €10 for students under 18
from €10 for young people under 30
from €11 for Dresden Pass and SB from GdB 80

About the Concert

Much of what went wrong in the East after 1990 can be explained by omissions and mistakes in the unification process. Other issues stem from inflated expectations and a misunderstanding of freedom. This has created a toxic atmosphere that is affecting larger parts of the population - not only in the East but also in the West. Because the "new wall" does not only run along the former East-West German border, but also between defenders of democracy and those who - intentionally or carelessly - put it in danger. Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk is one of the leading experts on GDR history and has been a critical and astute observer of the unification process for many years, as evidenced by the huge success of his book "Freedom Shock" (2025). The FAZ called him the "punk among German historians". Bodo Ramelow has been politically active in East Germany since 1990 and was Minister President in Thuringia from 2014 to 2024. The two have come together to investigate the causes of the widespread electoral success of the AfD in the new federal states and to explore the perspectives for our democracy. With their theses, the authors of the book "The New Wall" provoke, while also providing numerous arguments for and against common assumptions about and from East Germany. The evening continues the discussions on the peculiarities of the "East" at the Kulturpalast, with Dirk Oschmann being the last guest in February 2024. Organizer: Dresden Philharmonic in cooperation with the Municipal Libraries Dresden.

Program

Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk and Bodo Ramelow
"The New Wall - A Conversation about the East" Panel discussion on their joint book

Artists

Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk
Author
Bodo Ramelow
Author
Cornelius Pollmer
Moderator

Biographies

Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk

Historian and journalist

"Even as a child, I had a great desire to discover new things. The past offers me an endless reservoir for this. Working in archives and libraries is a joy and a pleasure for me. My curiosity can never be satisfied here," says German historian and journalist Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk. In the GDR, higher education was inaccessible to him, but after the fall of the Berlin Wall he made up for lost time so that he could turn his irrepressible thirst for discovery and research into a career.

 

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Bodo Ramelow

Politican

Bodo Ramelow has been Vice-President of the German Bundestag since March 2025, where he is committed to media diversity, the fight against hate and incitement, platform regulation and the ethical use of artificial intelligence. Prior to this, the Left Party politician was Minister-President of the Free State of Thuringia from 2014 to 2024. Together with historian Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk, he wrote the book "Die neue Mauer. Ein Gespräch über den Osten" (The New Wall: A Conversation about the East), which was published in September 2025.

 

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Cornelius Pollmer

Presenter/Journalist

Journalist Cornelius Pollmer was born in Dresden and has been head of the Leipzig office of DIE ZEIT and the ZEIT im Osten department since 2025. Prior to that, he worked for the Süddeutsche Zeitung for many years. He has written two books about eastern Germany, and he regularly moderates stage discussions, primarily on the topics of politics, science, economics and culture.

read biography

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