Press release of March 4, 2026
A few questions about German cultural policy
The programme »Goethe-Institut im Exil« has been suspended with immediate effect. The Minister of State for Culture, Wolfram Weimer, has excluded three left-wing bookshops from the Bookshop Award. We have a few questions about both of these developments.
To the Goethe-Institut:
1. Why was the »Goethe-Institut im Exil« programme discontinued abruptly a few months before its scheduled end, without consideration for events that had already been planned and financed?
2. The Goethe-Institut’s statement does not answer this question. It states that, ‘against the backdrop of current political dynamics and multiple crises, as well as their impact on the work of the Goethe-Institut’, the board of directors decided to discontinue the »Goethe-Institut im Exil« programme with immediate effect. But what does this mean?
3. Is it a coincidence that this decision was made on the eve of a planned reading and discussion with Palestinian poets at the Berlin Kunsthaus ACUD? Is it a coincidence that this decision was made two days after the Berlinale awards ceremony, where remarks made by the Syrian-Palestinian director Abdallah Alkhatib caused outrage?
4. Did the Foreign Office influence the decision to discontinue the programme »Goethe-Institut im Exil«?
To the Minister of State for Culture, Wolfram Weimer:
5. In the case of the bookshops excluded from the awards ceremony, what exactly does the reference to ‘findings relevant to the protection of the constitution’ mean? Are these findings publicly verifiable? Were the bookshops in question given the opportunity to comment on the ‘findings’ of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution?
6. Who made the decision to remove the three bookshops from the list, and on what legal basis?
7. Does the Minister of State for Culture distrust the Bookshop Award jury? Why are the jury’s proposals, appointed by the BKM, subject to review by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution?
8. In his welcome address for the 2025 German Bookshop Award, the Minister of State for Culture, Wolfram Weimer, wrote, »Through literature, we can have experiences that would otherwise be impossible. That is why freedom of speech is one of the most valuable aspects of our democratic society and must be preserved and protected at all costs.” Owner-operated bookshops make an important contribution to this.« Should we interpret these sentences as follows? »Through literature, we want to have experiences that disturb us as little as possible. That is why freedom of speech is one of the relative assets of our democratic society that we preserve and protect, as long as it does not cause harm.’ Owner-operated bookshops make an important contribution to this as long as they do not recommend inappropriate books to their customers.«
9. Does the Minister of State for Culture consider the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution competent to evaluate the work of cultural institutions? If so, can we assume that theatres staging plays by Bertolt Brecht or Heiner Müller, or the Bayreuth Wagner Festival, will soon be monitored by the Office?
10. Are the Minister of State for Culture’s decisions influenced by the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, or by a reporting office such as Nius, which launched a campaign against left-wing book publishers in autumn?
To the entire Federal Government:
11. Does the basic principle of German cultural promotion – that there is no state culture and that cultural autonomy is promoted – still apply?
PEN Berlin. We stand by our word.