The International Danube Festival Ulm/Neu-Ulm and the Danube Swabian Central Museum present: Panel discussion on the division between East and West
Only since the 19th century, with increasing mobility on the water, has the Danube been considered as a whole. Until then, it was perceived as the upper (western) and lower (eastern) Danube. In ancient times, the river even had different names: Danubius and Ister.
Today, all geographical barriers have been overcome and the need for connection is growing. Nevertheless, the relationship between the Danube countries and their inhabitants is still characterised by the divide between "East" and "West". A divide that reflects the global political divide. In particular, one of the fundamental experiences of the present: being a stranger ...
Who divides whom? And why? What can be done? How do writers and translators, whose job it is to create connections and rapprochement, experience this divide?
In particular, reference is made to the book "Europe's Divided Heaven. Why the West does not understand the East" by Norbert Mappes-Niediek, whose translation from German is being published this year in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.
With Alida Bremer (moderator), Norbert Mappes-Niediek, Dana Grigorcea, Barbi Markovic and Bojan Savic Ostojic