4 December 2024, 7:30 pm, Atelier/Ackermannshof Basel (free admission/collection)
‘Seien wir behutsam’ open discussion based on the book ‘Den Schmerz der Anderen begreifen. Holocaust und Weltgedächtnis’ by Charlotte Wiedemann, from which we will also read passages.
Published in 2022, the book by the German publicist combines essay, travel reportage and self-exploration to make a plea for the equal ranking of historical experiences of suffering and for a world memory oriented towards inclusion and solidarity.
Selected passages from the book will be read aloud and discussed by a small reading group together with the audience. We will explore the questions of what guides our empathy, how we can move away from the hierarchisation of suffering and what solidary remembrance could mean in our present.
Afterwards, we will talk about the first preparations for a trip to the Mauthausen memorial in May 2025.
5 December 2024, 7:30 pm doors, 8 pm concert start, Druckereihalle/Ackermannshof Basel (free admission/collection)
Concert with the music group ASSAFIR
Oud and qanun from the East, clarinet and quarter-tone accordion from the Balkans: Assafir Musique (Paris) play a rare Anatolian repertoire on nine instruments with percussion and traditional singing. The pieces tell of the breadth of human emotions in the Greek diaspora, of stories of love or exile, of the search for freedom and emancipation. Profound and painful states of mind drive us to exuberant celebration, which reminds us that it is celebration that saves us from everything.
Album link: Digressions – ASSAFIR
6 December 2024, 7:30 pm, Atelier/Ackermannshof Basel (free admission/collection)
Theatre piece ‘The Bright Side of Life’ by New Dutch Connections
There is war where he came from and his goal was Europe. What does the future mean after arrival? And how do you feed your hopes? Accompanied by Moldovan songs on the accordion, Bright and Oleg tell us about their dreams, struggles and experiences of gaining a foothold in Europe, their longing for community and for being part of society. ‘future citizens’ is an expression of confidence in a magnificent interplay between music and narrative theatre.
10 January 2025, Stadtcasino
Concert KOMA AMED
Koma Amed – performing again after 27 years! One of the legendary Kurdish music groups, which has influenced entire generations, will be performing on the Stadtcasino stage in January. The political spirit of emancipation and resistance permeates their compositions, which are based on traditional Kurdish music and oral literature. Founded in the 1980s, at a time when Kurdish music and language were banned, they released their first album ‘Kulîlka Azadî’, which reached a wide audience through secret copies. In 1993, they joined the Mesopotamia Cultural Center (MKM). They were not allowed to perform publicly in the Kurdish regions or in Turkey, but their music spread like wildfire among the Kurdish population. They became internationally known in the mid-1990s with their album ‘Dergûş’. At the end of the 90s, most of the group fled to Europe due to increasing persecution and repression. Now, after 27 years, they are playing together again. Their singer Süleyman Carnewa is part of the ensemble of the Volksbühne Basel and has appeared in ‘Shengal the Power of Women’ and ‘Selam Habibi’, among others.
Album link: Kulîlka Azadî by Koma Amed
8 May evening – 11 May evening 2025
Joint trip to the Mauthausen memorial
The Volksbühne is organising a joint trip to the Mauthausen memorial with translations into Greek, Kurdish, Turkish and English.
Next year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the capitulation of the fascist German armed forces. It is important to us not only to remember the crimes of fascism, but also to actively oppose current fascist, racist and anti-Semitic tendencies.
One initiative in this regard is a group trip to the memorial of the former concentration camp Mauthausen.
In Mauthausen, Jewish people, Soviet prisoners of war, Roma and Sinti, young people, Spanish Republicans, homosexuals and people from all over the world who resisted fascism were killed.
During the Volksbühne festival, there will be more information about the trip and the opportunity to register (also online afterwards).
‘Do not forget us who were killed here, for forgetting evil is permission to repeat it’ – inscription on the Greek memorial tablet in Mauthausen.