Events

Poster for photo exhibition, Dictatorship and Democracy

Revealing a total of 190 rare photographs, newspaper clippings and political cartoons from different European archives, the exhibition "Dictatorship and Democracy in the Age of Extremes" tells Europe's dramatic story of the 20th century – a past between freedom and tyranny, democracy and dictatorship.

Train with lots of people waving out of partially closed windows. Many people on train platform waving.

30.September 1989 kurz vor sieben Uhr abends. Fast 4000Menschen drängen sich im Garten der Prager Botschaft. Sie allewarten auf die Nachricht von Hans Dietrich Genscher. Schließlicherscheint er auf dem Balkon. „Liebe Landsleute. Wir sind zu Ihnen gekommen, um Ihnenmitzuteilen, dass heute Ihre Ausreise…“ Der Rest seiner Rede wirdvon lautem Jubelgeschrei übertönt. Es ist der Beginn einer derbedeutendsten Ereignisse der deutschen Nachkriegsgeschichte.Noch am gleichen Abend soll der erste Zug von Prag aus in die BRDfahren. Doch was dann bekannt wird, sorgt für Entsetzen: Die Zügesollen einen Umweg fahren. Sie müssen durch die DDR...

Prague 1989, September 30th. The West German Embassy in Prague finds itself the centre of the world's political stage. Forweeks, refugees from East Germany have been crowding the premises of the Palais Lobkowitz and the surrounding streets.Within days, the fenced embassy compound transformed itself into a vast refugee camp. Wrapped up in blankets and living intents, men and women, young and old, and whole families are waiting for the politicians to act. A few belongings, memories of their past and dreams of a better life in the West is all they bring along...

In German with English subtitles.

Scaffolding and men in shadow, in front of a very large EU flag

Beginning with the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the last century saw the rise of Italian fascism and Soviet communism, the world economic crisis, and the rise of the Nazis to power in Germany, leading to the horrors of World War II.

Two plays, one drink:

Azmeras Entdeckung tells the comedic tale about the legendary Ethiopian goatherd Kaldi, his “entirely fictional” goat, Azmera, and how they discovered the miraculous powers of coffee 850 years ago.

Poster: title Fuehrerbunker in red Fraktur script, image of keyhole with light streaming through

Canadian composer Andrew Ager’s new chamber opera “Führerbunker” is receiving its premiere at the Registry Theatre in Kitchener.

Photo of Daniela Wolff, the author of the German novel Kurzsturz

Daniela Wolff published her first novel, Kurzsturz (Shortfall), in 2014. A resident of Canada since 2010, she lives and writes in Waterloo Region.

(En) gendering Precarity

Maria Speth is an award-winning director who is often associated with the "Berlin school" of German filmmaking. As part of her visit to the University of Waterloo, sponsored by the Waterloo Centre for German Studies, three of her most important films will be shown in April.

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Dictatorship and Democracy in the Age of Extremes: Spotlights on the History of Europe in the Twentieth Century

Dictatorship and Democracy in the Age of Extremes: Spotlights on the History of Europe in the Twentieth Century

Movie Night: Zug in die Freiheit/Train to Freedom

100 Years Since WWI: Dictatorship and Democracy in an Age of Extremes

Coffee, My Beloved!

Two plays, one drink:

Führerbunker: An Experimental Chamber Opera by Andrew Ager

Daniela Wolff, Kurzsturz: Public Reading and Discussion (in German)

Maria Speth Film Retrospective

(En) gendering Precarity

Maria Speth Film Retrospective

(En) gendering Precarity

Maria Speth Film Retrospective

(En) gendering Precarity