“You’re putting out the fire with gasoline” – The Diaries of Wolf Biermann

Book Presentation with Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk

November 16, 1976: Singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann is traveling from Cologne to Bochum in a Mercedes owned by the IG Metall union. IG Metall had invited the singer—who had moved from Hamburg to East Berlin in 1953 and had been banned from performing in the GDR for the past eleven years—to give concerts in the West. Three days earlier—on the birthday of his father, who was murdered at Auschwitz in 1943—Biermann had given his legendary concert at the Cologne Sports Hall. His second concert in the West was scheduled to take place in Bochum. Suddenly, the artist hears on the car radio the news that “the relevant authorities of the GDR” had “revoked his right to continue residing in the German Democratic Republic.” The GDR authorities’ plan to weaken the opposition within the country by expatriating Biermann backfired: a petition signed by 12 prominent GDR writers asking them to reconsider the “expatriation measure” triggered an unexpected wave of protests.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his expatriation and his 90th birthday, historian Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk—a friend of the singer-songwriter—is publishing excerpts from his extensive diaries. He will present the book at the Berlin Wall Memorial.

Moderator: Doris Liebermann, member of the Friends of the Berlin Wall Memorial

The event is part of the “Life Under Dictatorships” series organized by theFriends of the BerlinWall Memorial.

In cooperation with the Friends of the Berlin Wall Memorial and the Center for Eastern European and International Studies (ZOiS) Translated with DeepL

Meeting point: Visitor Center, Berlin Wall Memorial, Bernauer Straße 119, 13355 Berlin

Booking: Please register at

Next date:

• Date Thursday, 12/November/2026 19:00 bis 20:30
• Venue Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer
• Address Bernauer Straße 119, 13355 Berlin-Kreisfreie Stadt Berlin