For Democracy!

It is the job of the press to document the times and their changes, the arguments and sometimes also the struggle for the right path – in text, pictures and sound. It doesn’t always suit everyone. During violent demonstrations in West Berlin in 1988, press photographers and film teams were beaten up by the police. Currently, an extreme right-wing party in the Bundestag is questioning public broadcasting, and lateral thinkers are not only threatening journalists with violence, they are also hitting them. If there is to be no press on site, then there should be no independent pictures and reports. A free press is always in danger – even in our country.
Even press photographers do not know what and when something will happen: Who will hold a press conference, when will a secret nuclear waste transport start, where will a vacant house be occupied? At 6 p.m. on November 9, 1989, Dirk Wildt did not yet know that three hours later he would be standing at the Sonnenallee border crossing in East Berlin, where he would experience world history and document it with his camera for many others: the opening of the GDR Wall.
From 1982 to 1991, he took nearly 30,000 photos. For this exhibition, 220 were shortlisted and just under two dozen are now being shown as exhibits in the exhibition space of the artist group Agon. Dirk Wildt will tell the background to some of the photos. As a special guest, contemporary witness and interlocutor, Member of the Bundestag Erhard Grundl will build a bridge from the past to the present.

The Vernissage on Saturday, 04 November begins at 20.00 o’clock as satellite meeting in the context of the WoZu democracy.

Place: AGON exhibition rooms | Höllgasse (corner Steiningergasse), Passau
Time: Saturday, 04 November 2023, 20.00 – 22.00 hrs.
Exhibition duration and opening hours: will be published here soon
Admission free

Poetry Slam – the modern forum of poetry art, young, fast, open, direct. Spoken poetry, self-penned texts in different, individual styles meet a critical, active audience. Poetry slammers perform on an open stage in their own style and rhythm. Through direct address of the audience, participation in the evaluation process as well as the possibility for an open debate on special topics, an atmosphere of participation of all at eye level is created.
The “studio12 – Musik Café Bar Kunst und Kultur” offers the appropriate setting for this.

“Slam is the lighthouse for the democratization of art.”
“Slam is the lighthouse for the democratization of art.”- Bob Holman

Location: Studio12, Gottfried-Schäffer-Strasse 12, Passau
Time: Thursday, November 09, 2023, 6 p.m.
Admission free

Can you make democratic processes work the way you can fix broken objects? Let’s just try it! Selbstwerkstatt e.V. and the journalism project Emerenz are therefore joining forces on Friday, November 10, from 5 to 9 p.m.: While Selbstwerkstatt is hosting a repair café, a democracy café by and with Emerenz will take place at the same time. Of course, with coffee, cake and small snacks.

Since its start in 2020, visitors and volunteer repairers have been regularly repairing broken items together at the Self Workshop. Helping people to help themselves is the motto. Everyone is allowed to join in, ask questions, express ideas – and no distinctions are made when it comes to the items either: an old, cheap appliance is inspected and repaired just as carefully as a new, expensive one.

In the Democracy Café, we approach social concerns and democratic processes in the same way. No matter what topics and problems are brought along, together we develop ideas for solutions. Here, too, help for self-help is the order of the day, instead of waiting for politicians or administrators to take the initiative. As inspiration, Emerenz has invited the people whose stories the journalism project tells: People who make society a little better through their ideas and commitment.

Registration is not necessary, but makes sense in the case of the self-workshop, so that the right tools are ready. A short e-mail to reparieren@selbstwerkstatt.org is sufficient.

Location: Montessori School, Spitalhofstraße 37a, Passau.
Time: Friday, November 10, 2023, 5 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Admission free

Contact person: Karin Polz

Homepages/Social Media:

www.selbstwerkstatt.org

https://www.instagram.com/selbstwerkstatt_passau/

https://www.facebook.com/Selbstwerkstatt

www.emerenz-magazin.de

https://www.instagram.com/emere.nz/

https://www.facebook.com/EmerenzMagazin/

In his documentary film, Klaus Stanjek explores the family mystery surrounding his uncle. His uncle Willi was a professional musician and performed all over Germany for over five decades, including in Passau. He was always in a good mood and popular with everyone. In his family, however, he was considered a black sheep whose life was little talked about. It was not until he was 40 that Stanjek learned that his uncle had spent eight years in a concentration camp because of his sexual orientation. How did it come about? How did he manage to survive the imprisonment? Why was it never talked about in the family? Stanjek explores these and other questions in his film. He takes the audience on a search for clues that not only sheds light on the life of his uncle and his family, but also provides clues about the way society as a whole dealt with National Socialism, concentration camp imprisonment and homosexuality.

The film, which has won several awards, impresses not only with its courage in bringing this intra-family theme to the screen, but above all with its creative and varied, partly animated film language. This gives the family silence the sound that served as Willi Heckmann’s elixir of life.

The director Klaus Stanjek will be available for questions and discussion after the film.

Start: 8.15 pm
Place: ProLi Cinema, Passau
Admission online: Floor 9 € / Box 11 € / Premium 14 €
Admission box office: Stalls 10 € / Loge 12 € / Premium 15 €

Already in ancient Greece, philosophizing was done in a group and not least by walking (“peripatos”) or in public places (“agora”). This old tradition shall be taken up and renewed in a small group by a common walk to selected places in the old town of Passau. The places are to be perceived and deliberately “considered” in political, aesthetic or ecological terms: What does the town hall square stand for – and what should it stand for? What impressions are created by the strong contrast of the dynamic rivers and the cathedral? How would the atmosphere in the old town change acoustically and visually – if we got rid of the car traffic? In a dialogical exchange about this, democracy, which also has its origin in Athens (“polis”), becomes philosophically alive. Quotations, poems, anecdotes, among other things, serve as specific impulses. A technical expertise is not necessary, only the engagement in the shared situation, in which new perspectives on familiar places of our everyday life are to be gained. Everyone is welcome as a “flaneur”!

Dr. Florian Wobser teaches and researches as a philosopher with a focus on didactics at the University of Passau, among other things on performative aspects of philosophizing in public.

Meeting place: Fountain at the Residenzplatz, Passau
Time: Saturday, November 11, 2023, 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Admission free

The digitization of our everyday lives is associated with new opportunities that seem to be available to all users in the same way. Large segments of the population were able to benefit from location-independent exchange, new educational access or numerous free services, not least during the Corona pandemic. Does this mean that digitization is also the tool that can empower the disadvantaged sections of the population in particular? In the context of growing social inequality, this question seems particularly relevant in Germany. With a view to the hidden costs of participation, the lecture draws attention to the opposite: contrary to the prevailing euphoria surrounding the numerous digital possibilities, it is becoming apparent that in the emerging data economy it is precisely the disadvantaged segments of the population that will be confronted with far-reaching restrictions. Afterwards, the audience will be invited to share their own impressions and engage in a joint conversation.

PD Dr. Jörg Scheffer teaches and researches as a geographer at the University of Passau on digital spaces and the social implications of digitalization, among other topics.

Location: Event room Uni Live – Campus meets City, access via Gr. Klingergasse 2a, Passau.
Time: Saturday, November 11, 2023, 4:00 – 5:30 p.m.
Admission free

With his politically impregnated text material, Fluse turns on the faucet of time so that the advancing desertification in the field of German-language music is countered by an evergreen habitat. Half art, half activist project, Fluse pluckily reconciles primal dance rage with humanitarian aggressiveness. Fluse recently released its latest EP, “Argentina,” which is available to listen to online everywhere.

The band
Johannes Fäßler – git, voc
Johannes Bomhard – git
Johannes Engelhard – bass
Angela Requena Fuentes – drums

Place: Café Museum, Bräugasse 17, Passau
Time: Saturday, November 11, 2023, 20.00 – 23.00 hrs.
Free admission. Donations welcome

The marginalization of the mentally ill and mentally disabled people murdered by the National Socialists continues to this day. At the same time, the work of remembrance intensifies as the distance from the events grows. The volume presented deals with the convoluted reception history of Nazi “euthanasia.” The focus is on the many initiatives that currently commemorate these crimes. With case studies, interviews, portraits, and rich visual material, the popular science-oriented book offers a discursive and visual approach to the topic. In addition to personal, social, political, scientific, and artistic approaches to the “euthanasia” crimes, fundamental ethical questions surrounding the “value of life” are addressed. The volume is introduced by the two editors Jörg Skriebeleit and Winfried Helm.

The examination of the thematic complex of eugenics and “euthanasia” makes it clear that there are continuities of exclusion that are still effective today. The discussion that follows the book presentation makes cultural initiatives visible that counter this exclusion and strive for inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities. Actors from theater, music, visual arts and literature will participate in the conversation.

The Sunday matinee will be musically accompanied by Christiane Öttl.

The venue is home to the Lebensgemeinschaft Langlebenhof gGmbH, which runs a residential home for adults with mental and physical disabilities.

The co-organizer is the Center for Remembrance Culture at the University of Regensburg, where the book project was carried out.

Prof. Dr. Jörg Skriebeleit is a cultural scientist and historian. He directs the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial and is an honorary professor at the University of Regensburg. There he is one of the founding directors of the Center for Remembrance Culture.
Dr. Winfried Helm is a freelance cultural scientist and exhibition organizer with an office in Passau.

Place: Langlebenhof, Alte Rieser Str. 19, Passau
Time: Sunday, November 12, 2023, 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Admission free

Did we live up to our claim and the main topic of “Remembrance Culture” in the last few days? Were we able to show new and occasionally entertaining perspectives with our compact program? Were we able to generate a bit of optimism, verve and fresh ideas? A casual exchange among participants, sympathizers and friends may perhaps bring answers to these questions. In any case, the exchange of ideas over good food and drink is intended to mark the end of this year’s Weeks for Democracy. These officially end this Sunday, but the events hopefully resonate, especially the exhibition “Grenzüberschreitungen”. For it will continue to run until the end of November in the rooms of the AGON artists’ group in Höllgasse. Here, one will always encounter either a member of WoZu Demokratie or even the former press photographer himself. Because Dirk Wildt will take over some “shifts”.
But first, raise your glasses to the fifth Demokratiefestival!
As the highlight of the evening, four of the high-quality photographs from the exhibition “Grenzüberschreitungen” will be put up for auction.
Stop by the Theatercafé and toast with us!

Place: Theatercafé, Unterer Sand, Passau
Time: Sunday, November 12, 2023, 5:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Admission free