1960s Berlin in Uwe Johnson’s *Berliner Sachen*

Uwe Johnson, Mitte der 1960er Jahre & Uwe Johnson: „Berliner Sachen“ – links: Porträtaufnahme von Uwe Johnson aus den 1960er Jahren, rechts: Cover des Buches Berliner Sachen

The new volume of the Rostock edition of Uwe Johnson’s works, presented by the editors Katja Leuchtenberger and Robert Gillett.

How did a child raised in the US view the absurdities of a divided Berlin? How did a long-time resident experience them? And what did a pub have to do with escape?  The writer Uwe Johnson (1934–1984) experienced the 1960s in Berlin as an alert and outspoken contemporary witness. In his 1975 collection of essays ‘Berliner Sachen’, he described it as an eventful decade in Berlin’s history.

The Uwe Johnson Collected Works is a long-term research project of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW) at the University of Rostock. Two of the editors of the historical-critical edition of “Berliner Sachen” provide an insight into the cataloguing, preparation and publication of this new volume. They were supported in this work by our staff in the extensive library of the Stadtmuseum Berlin.

The book
Uwe Johnson: Berliner Sachen
Essays. Historical-critical edition of the works, writings and letters of Uwe Johnson, edited by Holger Helbig, Ulrich Fries and Katja Leuchtenberger, Section 2, Volume 1, edited by Katja Leuchtenberger, Gary Lee Baker and Robert Gillett, Berlin: Suhrkamp 2025.

A collaboration with the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the University of Rostock

Venue: Schlütersaal (1st floor)

Price: €5.00

Reduced price: €3.00

Next date:

• Date Wednesday, 29/April/2026 18:00 bis 19:30
• Venue Museum Ephraim-Palais
• Address Poststraße 16, 10178 Berlin-Mitte