Mascha Kaleko - A life story in poetry and prose

The reading duo "Wilder Mohn" takes the day before the memorial service to the victims of Nazi socialism as an opportunity to remember the great poet Mascha Kaléko. Marie Anne Langefeld and Carmen Barann interpret her poems as boldly, but also enigmatically and thoughtfully, as the poet herself might have done in her public appearances. Susanne Dreyer sensitively captures the different moods with her harp playing and wonderfully supports the cheerful and melancholy atmosphere of the programme.

With charm and humour, a dash of eroticism and social criticism, the young Mascha Kaléko conquers the hearts of city dwellers in Berlin in the 1920s and 1930s. She was 22 when she published her first poems. They are verses that everyone understands. They deal with love, parting and loneliness, longing and sadness. She became famous with this "utility poetry" in the best sense of the word. Mascha Kaléko's poetry is always accompanied by a light touch of irony and does not give rise to any sentimentality. It is this mixture of melancholy and humour, constant topicality and political acuity that makes her poetry so irresistible and timeless.

The reading "...selbst der Kummer trägt ein schöner Kleid" ("Even sorrow wears a beautiful dress") covers Mascha Kaléko's childhood in Galicia, her happy time in Berlin, her emigration and exile in America, her return to her old homeland, finally her move to Israel and her death.

Admission is free, the artists are happy to receive a donation.