Anita Tuvin Schlechter Auditorium, 7 p.m.
Reinventing Germany, Again and Again
Janine Ludwig, cultural historian of East Germany
Anne Rabe, playwright and novelist
Matthias Rogg, historian and colonel in the German army
Antje Pfannkuchen (moderator), co-director, Clarke Forum
The history of modern Germany has forced continuous reorientations. On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Federal Republic of Germany and the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall the panelists will discuss today’s Germany and its global position.
This Clarke Forum event represents our Germany on Campus program, co-sponsored by the German Embassy Washington DC, the Max Kade Foundation, and the Department of German. In addition, it is part of the Clarke Forum’s Leadership in an Age of Uncertainty Series which is supported by the Churchill Fund and it’s annual theme, Alternative Models.
Topic overview written by Noah Salsich ’25
Biographies (provided by the speakers)
Janine Ludwig is a literary scholar, also Vice Head of the Institute for Cultural German Studies (ifkud), and Chairwoman of the International Heiner Müller Society. Ludwig studied Contemporary German Literature, Philosophy, and Theater Studies/Cultural Communication. She is an expert on East German and post-war literature, but also an academic all-rounder. Aside from numerous articles, she has published two books on Heiner Müller (“Ikone West” and “Macht und Ohnmacht des Schreibens”) and, tog. with Mirjam Meuser, two edited volumes on post-GDR literature: “Literatur ohne Land?” Dr. Ludwig regularly teaches at the Departments of Cultural and German Studies at Uni Bremen, e.g. seminars on German-American cultural history and relations, including German immigration.
Credit: Annette Hauschild
Anne Rabe is a writer. She writes plays, screenplays and essays. She has received numerous prizes and scholarships for her plays. She was part of the writing team for the TV series “Warten auf’n Bus”. In her essays and articles, she deals with the history of violence in East Germany, subtle forms of sexualized violence, but also with the rise of the far right in Germany and Europe. Her debut novel “Die Möglichkeit von Glück” was published by Klett Cotta in spring 2023. The novel is not only shortlisted for the Aspekte Literature Prize and the German Book Prize, but is also on the SPIEGEL bestseller list.
Professor Dr. Matthias Rogg is a German military officer (Colonel) and historian, currently teaching at the U.S. Army War College. Rogg is a founding chairman of the German Institute for Defense and Strategic Studies (GIDS), a think tank for the Bundeswehr and the German government. His decorations include the German Armed Forces Cross of Honor in Gold, and the Werner Hahlweg Prize for Military History and Military Sciences.
Antje Pfannkuchen is co-director of the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and associate professor of German. She is a researcher in German media studies, literature and cultural history. Her work is concerned with connections between (media) technology, science, literature and art, especially in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Most recently she co-edited “The Technological Introject,” a volume engaging the ideas of Friedrich Kittler, mastermind of German media theory. She has also published on German Enlightenment poet and scientist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, on Romantic physicist Johann Wilhelm Ritter and on Ezra Pound’s interests in 19th century German science. Her current book project investigates the correlations of the history of electricity, German early Romanticism and the invention of photography. Courses she has taught include German Media Cultures, German Film, German Stories – classical and digital, Goethe Forever!, The Two Germanies, German Romanticism, German-Jewish Culture and all levels of German language.
Related Links
COVID-19: The Pandemic and its Impact on Security Policy, in: PRISM, Vol. 8, No. 4 (2020), pp.54-67
Wartime raids haunt Dresden, cradle of German anti-Islam group (Reuters, 10th FEB 2015)
Military Museum Confronts Past (New York Times, 29th JAN 2014)