The Vilnius branch of the German Historical Institute Warsaw participates in the organization of the 30^th Thomas Mann Festival in Nida. The topic of the festival this year is "Time is out of joint. The hope" and the invited speaker is Professor Karl Schlögel.

Karl Schlögel (b. 1948) is a German historian and expert on Eastern and Central Europe. He studied philosophy, sociology, Eastern European history, and Slavic studies. In 1990, he became Professor of Eastern European History at the University of Konstanz. From 1995 until his retirement in 2013, Schlögel taught at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt an der Oder. For four decades, combining empirical historical research with personal experience, Schlögel has been investigating the Soviet era, Stalinist terror, the cities and landscapes of Central and Eastern Europe, everyday culture, migration processes, Russian imperial aggression, and Ukraine's struggle for survival. Schlögel was one of the first to warn of aggressive Putinist policy following the annexation of Crimea. He does not hesitate to travel to Ukraine to witness the consequences of the war firsthand. Prof. Schlögel emphasizes that the war is not decided on the front alone and reminds us that peace in Europe is only possible with a free Ukraine. In his most recent work, Auf der Sandbank der Zeit. Der Historiker als Chronist der Gegenwart (On the Sandbank of Time: The Historian as a Chronicler of the Present, 2025), he reflects on the role of the researcher himself against the backdrop of today's crises and war. The guest will reflect on these topics during his address in Nida.

Schlögel's academic and journalistic work has earned numerous awards, including the Sigmund Freud Prize of the German Academy of Language and Literature (2004), the Munich History College Prize (2016), the Leipzig Book Fair Prize (2018), the Gerda Henkel Prize (2024), and, most recently, the Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels (2025). He is also a member of the order Pour le mérite. 

The moderator of this talk will be Dr. Povilas Dikavičius. He is a research fellow at the German Historical Institute Warsaw and acting head of the Vilnius branch. Dr. Dikavičius received his PhD in Comparative History from the Central European University (Budapest, Vienna) and is an expert on the East-Central Europe in the Early Modern Period and works on the history of violence, humanist political thought, and social hierarchies.

Date: July 15th
Time: 16:00-17:00
Location: Thomas-Mann-Haus, Nida

Further information on the festival: http://thomas-mann-haus.de/festivalprogramm-aktuell

Photo: Copyright: Phil Dera