The Secret of a Journey. Siegfried Unseld travels to Rilke’s tower with Peter Huchel
5/21/2026, 7:30 PM

Siegfried Unseld hopes that Huchel’s stay of several days will mark the start of work on his autobiography, an account of his experiences in the GDR and at the editorial office of SINN UND FORM, where Huchel served as editor-in-chief from 1946 to 1962.

Peter Huchel had a contradictory relationship with Rainer Maria Rilke. Unlike many of his fellow poets, he never counted himself among those who imitated “Rilke’s euphony”; in conversation, he even said that he had no connection to this poetry and found the author suspect. Yet there is also evidence of meticulous reading and great respect.

When Rilke’s patron Nanni Reinhart invited Huchel to the poet’s famous tower in April 1973, he wrote to her: “It has always been a secret wish of mine to meet Muzot”. And so he set off for Valais with his publisher.

Unseld’s hope for Huchel’s memoirs was not fulfilled; the memoirs remain fragmentary. On this evening, however, the unusual journey becomes the starting point for a discussion in which literary scholar Benjamin Krutzky and writer Norbert Hummelt, together with the editor-in-chief of SINN UND FORM, Matthias Weichelt, explore the special relationship between these two great poets.