Underestimated and honored – memorial evening for the poet and translator Henryk Bereska

Henryk Bereska is a still underestimated East German translator and poet, critical thinker and initiator of the intellectual debate on Polish literature in Germany. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his death this year and the 100th anniversary of his birth next year, the Karl Dedecius Foundation of the European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) is organizing a personal and literary evening of remembrance for Henryk Bereska on Wednesday, 15 October, starting at 6.15 p.m. Interested parties are cordially invited to the German-Polish interpreted event in the Great Hall of the Collegium Polonicum, ul. Kościuszki 1, in Słubice.

Participation is free of charge, registration is requested. The event will also be livestreamed; the link will be sent out after registration.

The evening commemorates the writer, translator and cultural mediator Henryk Bereska. Friends and companions who experienced his work and personality up close will meet on the podium.
The writer Ines Geipel, editor of the Kolberger Hefte with diary excerpts from three decades, will provide special insights into Bereska's world of thought. Prof. Dr. habil. Gabriela Matuszek-Stec (Jagiellonian University in Krakow), a long-time friend of the translator, and Janina Szarek-Münzberg, director of the German-Polish Teatr Studio on the Salzufer – Tadeusz Różewicz Stage in Berlin, will shed light on the collaboration from a literary and practical theater perspective. The philosopher of religion Prof. Dr. habil. Thomas Brose (Studium Philosophicum Berlin / Pontifical Gregorian University) reports on conversations that led to the inclusion of a Bereska aphorism in the "Christian Garden" in Berlin. Matthias Thalheim, long-time head of the Artistic Word department at MDR Kultur, describes his search for traces of Bereska's Berlin. Finally, Odette Bereska, theater director and daughter of the poet, contributes her personal memories.

Bereska's texts will be brought to life in a German-Polish theatrical reading performed by Torsten Gesser and Arkadiusz Porada (Theater des Lachens, Frankfurt (Oder)) and Manfred Mack (Karl Dedecius Foundation).

Afterwards, the prize in the translation competition "Thoughtful, concise, precise – translating Bereska's aphorisms" will be awarded for the best Polish translation of selected aphorisms. The evening will end with a small reception.
Janni Struzyk (tuba) and Maria Grimm (piano) will accompany the evening with music; the writer and literary scholar Dr. habil. Brygida Helbig moderates.
 

Background
The event takes place as part of the academic conference "Henryk Bereska – a man in between". From Wednesday, October 15, to Friday, October 17, researchers from various disciplines and translators will examine Bereska's wide-ranging oeuvre. They will discuss the relevance of his work as a mediator in the dialog between Eastern and Western Europe, his role in the German-Polish exchange of knowledge and his significance for current academic research. To the conference program