A Pass for Art: 40 Years Inter-German Cultural Agreement

“If East Berlin declares Goethe a citizen of the GDR, we’ve lost.” This quip from Bonn was widely circulated when the inter-German cultural agreement was finally concluded in 1986, during the first years of Helmut Kohl’s chancellorship.

For thirteen years, the treaty between the two German states had been repeatedly postponed and renegotiated. Given Germany’s division, cultural exchange was highly controversial. Initially, the East German leadership refused to acknowledge art and culture as a link between East and West, but it eventually had to accept that it could no longer shield its population from Western influence. The Federal Government insisted on the indivisibility of the nation and sought greater openness and contact. A particular point of contention in the negotiations over the inter-German cultural agreement concerned the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, based in West Berlin: West Germany’s Federal Government rejected the GDR’s demand for the return to East Berlin of cultural assets that had been relocated during the war.

Contemporary witnesses and key figures from that period discuss the following questions at an event hosted by the Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz in cooperation with the Bundeskanzler-Helmut-Kohl-Stiftung: What impact did the agreement have? How did art and audiences engage with one another despite living under such different conditions? The event will also explore what characterised East German culture, which was partly state-directed and partly independent and subversive. How do its distinctive features continue to shape the present day? The panel will also address the question of whether—and how—art and culture can initiate social change.

The participants are Ingeborg Ruthe, art critic for the Berliner Zeitung; Petra Winter, Director of the Central Archives of the National Museums in Berlin; Thomas Flierl, a former employee of the GDR Ministry of Culture and former Senator for Culture; gallery owner Felix Brusberg; and Ulrich Leidholdt, the former WDR radio correspondent in the GDR.

Please note that registration is required for the event.

In German, no translation.

Einlass ab 17:30, Beginn 18:00.

Location:
Auditorium der James-Simon-Galerie
Bodestraße 1–3
10178 Berlin

Fully accessible.