“For years, we have been talking about the war…”
Karl Schlögel and Serhij Zhadan in conversation
2/19/2026, 7 – 11 PM

Talk

Karl Schlögel and Serhij Zhadan, both laureates of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, discuss the war in Europe and its impact on cities and people, on landscapes and topographies, as well as on the measurement of time and space in the 21st century.

  • Location:Pariser Platz
  • ElevatorLimited wheelchair accessHearing assistance
  • Date:2/19/2026
  • Time:7 – 11 PM
  • Cooperation(s):Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung
  • Languages: German, Ukrainian
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  • The event is fully booked and will be streamed live on the YouTube channel of the Federal Agency for Civic Education. 

As early as 2014, Karl Schlögel described Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine as a shameless attack and warned that there could be no Europe without a free Ukraine. For many years, Europe has been talking about war and freedom. Yet the reality in Ukraine speaks differently: the war continues with all its losses, targeting people and places, seizing spaces, and shaping the course of time. Even in the twelfth year of the war, the words of Ukrainian author Serhij Zhadan still resonate: “We consider it reckless to remain silent about ourselves.”

Greetings: Manos Tsangaris, President of the Akademie der Künste, and Cemile Giousouf, Representative of the President of the Federal Agency for Civic Education
Moderation: Kateryna Stetsevych

A cooperation of the Federal Agency for Civic Education and the Akademie der Künste, together with the German-Ukrainian Bureau.