Right-wing Extremism in the GDR: Art Discusses with Science

On Tuesday, April 18, 2023, starting at 7 p.m., the artist Leon Kahane, who lives in Berlin and Tel Aviv, and the right-wing extremism researcher Prof. Dr. Heike Radvan from the Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU) will discuss these questions at the Brandenburg State Museum of Modern Art, Uferstraße/Am Amtsteich 15, 03046 Cottbus.

The current exhibition Leon Kahane. commemorate us through action! shows originally A4-sized tear-outs from GDR propaganda posters, enlarged to the size of 200 x 130 cm. Texts and illustrations can only be seen in excerpts: They deal with people and revolution, sacrifice and fascism, peace in the world. The artist devotes himself to complex themes that are also linked to his own biography.

The poster fragments come from the archive of Leon Kahane's grandfather, Max Kahane, who fought fascism in the International Brigades and later in the Resistance, and after the Second World War reported as a journalist on the Nuremberg war crimes trials and the Eichmann trial. From the found GDR posters and the biography of his grandfather, the question arose for the artist about the effectiveness of state-imposed anti-fascism in the GDR.

Prof. Dr. Heike Radvan has been teaching and researching at the BTU's Institute of Social Work since 2017, focusing on the topic of right-wing extremism. In 2006, together with colleagues from the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, she coordinated the development of the traveling exhibition Das hat's bei uns nicht gegeben! Antisemitism in the GDR, which triggered a controversial debate on this topic throughout the republic.