Festival of the critical spirit

The GDR wanted to silence Wolf Biermann. After a concert in Cologne, she revoked his citizenship in 1976 and did not allow him to return. But his voice only grew louder and moved the divided Germany equally.

Fifty years later, **Wolf Biermann** is back on stage. He sings and talks about life between East and West. **Angela Merkel reminds** of his expatriation. Well-known voices from **acting, literature and music** encounter his work. Contemporary witnesses talk about what it meant to speak out for Biermann.

Persecuted voices of our time also have their say: **Authors in exil** read their own texts about protest, loss, language and freedom. The new **cinema documentary BIERMANN (2026) ** paints a captivating portrait of the artist whose life stands for German-German history like no other.

_With: Wolf Biermann, Angela Merkel, Balbina, Fabian Hinrichs, Pinar Atalay, Betterov, Gabriele Stötzer, Thomas Bussig, Bettina Wegner, Durs Grünbein, Charlotte Gneuss, Andrej Hermlin, Julia Schoch, Marko Martin, Lea Streisand, Lukas Rietzschel, Doris Liebermann, Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk and others _ _Voices of Exile: Alhierd Bacharevic, Delschad Numan Khorshid, Volha Hapeyeva, Ali Abdollahi, Mariam Meetra, Kateryna Mishchenko, Taqi Akhlaqi and Widad Nabi_

**Admission: 4 pm** **Program: 5 pm to 10 pm**

The [flyer] (https://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/sites/default/files/uploads/files/2026-08/biermann-flyer_mit_qr-code.pdf) about the festival can be found here.

An event by the [Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship] (https://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/de/veranstaltungen/vvk-festival-des-kritischen-geistes) at Kino International.