Lesung "1945" von Volker Heise

In the organizer's words:

"The film director Volker Heise reconstructs the year 1945... An unprecedented chronicle of the fateful months from New Year's Eve to New Year's Day, as exciting as a thriller." - 1st place in the non-fiction best book list Die Zeit, Deutschlandfunk Kultur and ZDF

In May 2025, the THFxGeschichte event series at Tempelhof Airport will focus on the 80th anniversary of the end of the war. After a fully booked reading at the beginning of the year, Volker Heise returns to the airport to read from his recently published book "1945". He sheds light on a year that stands for both catastrophe and a new beginning like no other. In a subsequent discussion, he will provide further in-depth insights and answer questions from the audience. The evening will be moderated by history and political scientist and author Robert Mueller-Stahl.

About the book

1945, a year between catastrophe and a new beginning. The Germans send a last contingent of young and old men into battle, the Allies are closing in, civilians are fleeing or seeking shelter in the rubble of war. In May, the war is over, people crawl out of the ruins, facing an uncertain future. Everyday life goes on, but the world is a different place. On the 80th anniversary of the end of the war, Volker Heise presents a breathtakingly narrated chronicle that spans the whole of 1945, from New Year's Eve to New Year's Day. Diaries, letters, memories, but also unpublished archive material, including eyewitness accounts, provide a unique perspective. Voices, observations and stories are interwoven into a grand narrative that directly links the most diverse fates. The portrait of a year as we have never seen it before.

At this THFxGESCHICHTE reading, the author will read passages from his book and provide in-depth insights in a subsequent Q&A session.

Moderation:

Robert Mueller-Stahl

Speaker:
Volker Heise

About the author

Volker Heise was born in Hoya in 1961 and is a director, dramaturge ("Black Box BRD"), producer and documentary filmmaker. His work has received numerous awards: the television series "Schwarzwaldhaus 1902" won the Grimme Prize, as did the series "Zeit der Helden"; the productions "24 h Berlin - Ein Tag im Leben" and "24 h Jerusalem" won the German Television Prize, among others. Most recently, he has achieved great success with the films "Berlin 1945 - Diary of a Big City", "Berlin 1933" and the Netflix production "Gladbeck. Das Geiseldrama" have met with a great response. His novel "Out of Control" was published in 2017. Volker Heise lives in Berlin.

Price information:

Free registration is required.