Elyseo da Silva

In the organizer's words:

In his novels "A Rainbow for the Shah" and "Phoenix Waltz", Elyseo da Silva presents a contemporary historical panorama of the years 1968 - 1989, albeit from a little-lit perspective.

Lukas von Freystein and Max Galiano, two loners who meet one night in a park in Cologne, discover that their affection goes beyond mere friendship - at a time when the infamous Paragraph 175 of Nazi legislation is still in force.

Lukas, whose father is an old-school patriarchal tyrant, cannot leave the parental home until he reaches the age of majority at 21. Max finds more support in his family, but also has to ask himself how far this support might go should he come out, as homosexuality is a topic that is hushed up in the 60s and 70s.

Elyseo da Silva follows the story of Luk and Galiano over a period of 20 years - from the time of the 1968 movement through the years of RAF terror to the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s.

Elyseo da Silva, born in Erlangen and raised in Nuremberg, has lived in Lisboa, Portugal, since 2016. He has traveled here this evening to read to us from his books, whose message of consistent humanism seems more relevant than ever in the face of a resurgent fascism in 2025.

Dr. phil. Caroline Hack (medical ethicist, Head of the Clinical Ethics Department at the University Hospital Erlangen), the moderator of this evening, says about the novels:

"Especially in days like these, when hatred, agitation and backsliding into a loud antagonism color our time, we need deep, moving and real stories like those of Luk and Galiano more than ever. We need them so that we don't forget what it can be like when we go backwards. What it does to each and every one of us, both on a very personal level and with us as a society. But perhaps also how we can set out anew to learn from the mistakes of the past."

Price information:

Admission on a donation basis with a recommendation of €5