Heiner Müller's Ghosts
2/25/2026, 7 PM

For Heiner Müller, the past was not only not gone, the past was also the repository from which insights into the future could be gained: “One must dig up the dead, again and again, because only from them can one draw the future.” This “virulence of ghosts” (Durs Grünbein) is reflected in Müller's work in the presence of the dead, in the excavations of the material of history from which they emerge as living revenants. The decaying empires of yesterday provide the patterns of variation for the political developments of tomorrow.

Without hope, yet without surrendering to despair, the playwright and poet Heiner Müller took up the contradictions of his time and transformed them into enduring images. The personally lived experience of being a stranger lies at the heart of his work, with displacement and exile forming the main themes of his plays, poems, and essays. “For a long time, he was almost the only one whose work addressed nearly all the experiences of flight in the 20th century.” (Achim Engelberg) A departure from the ruins, symbolized by the notebook he began on January 1, 1945, will come into focus through an excerpt published for the first time in SINN UND FORM 1/2026 and read by Martin Wuttke at the Akademie der Künste.

How did Heiner Müller, who always presented himself as a historian rather than a prophet, became a global classic? Why do we lack a public intellectual like him today? Which of his assessments about Germany after reunification proved accurate? And what brings the fragments and scraps of his writing together to form a complete picture? – these are the topics that Achim Engelberg, Katja Lange-Müller, Mark Lammert, Kristin Schulz, and Simon Strauß will discuss.

Starting at 5 pm in the “Café Müller” in the club room, there will be an opportunity to discuss the following topics with Katja Lange-Müller, Simon Strauß, Mark Lammert, Achim Engelberg and Kristin Schulz at individual tables: Heiner Müller's biography Krieg ohne Schlacht (War without battle), Heiner Müller's relationship to history, Heiner Müller's last play Germania III, and Heiner Müller's archives. (Registration: cafe-mueller@adk.de).

Starting at 7 pm, Notebook 1945 will be presented (reading by Martin Wuttke) and the facets of his work will be discussed during a reading and discussion in the Plenarsaal. Welcome by Manos Tsangaris, President of the Akademie der Künste.