Ira Peter: »Deutsch genug? Warum wir endlich über Russlanddeutsche sprechen müssen«. Lesung mit der Autorin

In the organizer's words:

"Russian-Germans vote right-wing extremist, speak only Russian and worship Putin." Is that really the case? What is known about the approximately 2.5 million Russian-German (late) emigrants who, according to statistics, live in the Federal Republic of Germany and their experiences with dictatorship, deportation and the loss of cultural identity?

The Russian-German journalist Ira Peter moved with her family from Kazakhstan to Germany when she was nine years old and takes us on a personal and social search for traces. She talks about the shame of her Soviet migration history, the feeling of being unwanted and the consequences of a failed integration policy.

Her book "German enough? Why we finally need to talk about Russian-Germans" opens up new perspectives on an often misunderstood group and invites readers to reflect on history, identity and integration. She sheds light on how the experiences of dictatorship and deportation under Stalin and Hitler still shape Russian-Germans today and why many feel torn between two cultures. At the same time, she questions stereotypical images and pleads for a more differentiated understanding of this heterogeneous community.

Ira Peter will give insights into her life and share her views. The focus will be on a reading of various passages from her book "German enough?", which will be published in March 2025.

Afterwards, there will be room for questions and discussion from the audience.
Registration link under: Ira Peter: "German enough? Why we finally have to talk about Russian-Germans".

An event organized by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in cooperation with the Gerhart Hauptmann House Foundation

About the author
Ira Peter is a freelance journalist for ZEIT Online, taz, Frankfurter Rundschau and SWR Radio, among others. As a German from Kazakhstan, she has been publicly addressing Russian-German issues since 2017 - including in the Aussiedler podcast "Steppenkinder". Peter has received several awards for her work, including the "Golden Blogger Award" in 2022 for her blog as City Writer of Odessa 2021, the Russian-German "Cultural Prize of the State of Baden-Württemberg" in 2022 for "Steppenkinder" and the "Research Prize Eastern Europe" in 2023 for her research on women with disabilities in Armenia.

In March 2025, her first book "German enough? Why we finally need to talk about Russian-Germans"(Goldmann Verlag).