On the 26th of September, after a long but interesting reading tour, I finally came back to a rainy, dark skipsted. This trip, which had begun on August 25, had followed an equally long tour in June/July, with the highlight of the PEN Festbuch presentation in the former courtroom 600 of the Nuremberg court building. That had been extremely memorable.
Before I talk about the various events, I would like to thank everyone of the RWG Society, who made all this possible. May I begin with Peter and Mariechen Schrage-Aden, who kindly drove me to the Danish border in a super hired car and the RWS executive, with its active and reliable office keeper! My thanks too, to those concerned with the program and of course to Lutz Kliche, without whose accompaniment, presentation and chauffeuring, nothing would have come to fruition. Furthermore, I owe my sincere thanks to my patient hosts for their ever- recurring generous hospitality: Hildegard Thevs, Ann and Hermann Honermann, Anni and Günter Springer-Kropf, Nina and Konrad Melchers. My gratitude for the many good wishes including those for Rosh Hashana – and also for undeserved and unexpected gifts!
Lutz and I set off from Lüdinghausen for Cologne, where Birgit Morgenstern had organised a function at the Germania Judaica section of the Cologne Library. Established in 1959, it had also taken over London’s Wiener Library I had known in the early 1950s. It was full house and a great audience of some 100. The following day Mayor Andreas Wolters held a reception in Cologne’s Townhall for me, followed by a talk and podcast with Frau Leuthäusser Scharrenberger, North Rhine Westphalian antisemitism representative.
(c) A3W Osnabrück R. Stolle
The following morning Lutz and I were in Essen in a school for young people with hearing difficulties (matched by my own!), which we enjoyed. We then returned to Lüdinghausen, where we set off the next day (by this time we had reached September 2) for Osnabrück where we spent an unforgettable day. First there was a great gathering in the venerable hall, where 374 years ago the unique Westphalian Peace Treaty was signed, which ended the devastating Thirty Years War. The 375th anniversary will be celebrated in style and with numerous projects in the coming year. I was given the honour (thanks to Reinhard Stolle) by Osnabrücks Lord Mayor, Frau Dr. Katharina Pötter to sign the city’s Golden Book.
In the evening a crowded 40th anniversary gathering was held by Osnabrück’s volunteers of the city’ successful Aktionszentrum Dritte Welt Osnabrück, with informative addresses by ex- and current members. All in the presence of Frau Pötting, which in view of the many demands on her time was truly admirable! I was the guest of honour at this function in a city I’d often been glad to visit in the past. It had included an event at the Felix Nussbaum House, commemorating one of the many gifted artists, who sadly perished in the Shoah. Another esteemed son of the city was Erich Maria Remarque, author of the unforgettable “’In the West Nothing New” about World War I.
The next event was a visit at a comprehensive school in Recklinghausen, organised by the indefatigable Maria Voss.
From there we travelled to Sulzbach for a day’s rest, before a joint event in Frankfurt with Lutz Van Dijk, the accomplished author, activist and founder in 2001 of HOKISA (Homes for Kids in South Africa) in Cape Town’s impoverished Masiphumelele. Lutz literally had risen from a Covid sickbed to attend the event, which was moderated by his namesake Lutz Kliche. The event was due to Nasrin Siege, activist and a great writer, especially though not only of children’s books. I’m fortunate to call Nasrin and both men named Lutz, valued friends.
I was able to retreat to Sulzbach before the great event on the 15th September, when I
was presented in the National Library in Frankfurt with the Ovid Prize of the PEN Centre of German-speaking authors abroad. This PEN, the first in exile, had been founded in 1934 in London by a number of luminaries. Both Ovid, who had died in exile and the date of the prizegiving during the days devoted to exile, had been pointedly selected. My predecessors included such personalities as Wolf Biermann, whose songs and work I have long admired and Nobel Prize Laureate Herta Müller, whose work is far above mine! I’m greatly honoured to be in this company.
Lutz Kliche held the laudation and as I’m aware, such speeches are inevitably wonderful praise-songs. Lutz gave a truly great and personal account, for which I’m grateful. A lengthy interview followed, conducted by a well-prepared journalist, whose surname happened to be Schwarz.
Two days later Anni Kropf, Gesche Karrenbrock and I travelled to Berlin, where we all enjoyed Nina and Konrad Melchers’ hospitality. Melchers also hosted the RW Society annual gathering of members and various visits connected with my program.
Two further memorable functions took place before my departure: first I had the pleasure of meeting Aubrey Pomerance of the Jewish Museum, whose knowledge and meticulous preparations were impressive. This preceded the evening in the Jewish Museum, attended by over 220 individuals. Entitled a witness report of the early Nazi years, we never really moved beyond my childhood years, only touching my encounter with the racist society in South Africa on arrival in 1936. It was a delight to find that Mr. Pomerance and I shared a friend in the USA, of whom we are both very fond!
The next evening an event had been organised in the wonderful Ibn Rush Goethe Mosque, an exchange between the admirable Imamin Seyran Ates and myself. Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold, the Swiss founder of Peace Women Worldwide, who had come to Berlin for the occasion, aptly moderated the discussion. Though not intended as an inter-religious meeting – and the emphasis was indeed on peace and reconciliation – many perceived it as such.