Reading and Discussion
Als wäre es vorbei
Texte aus dem Krieg
How does war change images? How does it alter the way we see? How does it transform those who endure it or those who bear witness to it? Through the photo columns she published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung between February 2022 and the autumn of 2024, Katja Petrowskaja has—without deliberate intent—created a chronicle of the war. It begins on the eve of the conflict, with a landscape in Georgia along the Georgian Military Highway. Animals. The threat of war hangs in the air. On the next page comes the cry: “My Kyiv!” The unfathomable reality of war; the intrusion of the monstrous into one’s own life.
Born in Kyiv in 1970, Katja Petrowskaja has lived in Berlin since 1999. She has been a columnist for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung since 2011. Her literary debut, Vielleicht Esther (2014), has been translated into more than thirty languages and has won numerous awards. Her essay collection Das Foto schaute mich an was published in 2022, followed in 2025 by Als wäre es vorbei. Texte aus dem Krieg.
Katja Petrowskaja (Prose)
Martin Jankowski (Host)
Die Schönsten Deutschen Bücher 2025 (Longlist)
Horst Bingel-Preis für Literatur 2024
Tickets (€5 / €3 reduced) are available only at the box office in the Maschinenhaus.
The event will be held in German.
We look forward to your questions and comments during the event here: Facebook-Event
© Graham Hains
