Press release of February 24, 2026
»Is This Still | Already My Country?« – Now in Rhineland-Palatinate
Where Baden-Württemberg ends, Rhineland-Palatinate begins. This is partly true geographically, and it applies fully to PEN Berlin’s discussion series on Heimat, that deeply rooted sense of home, belonging, and identity. Immediately following the Baden-Württemberg leg of “Is This Still / Already My Country?”, the series continues this Friday at the cultural center dashaus in Ludwigshafen. The first discussion will feature former Federal Minister for Family Affairs Kristina Schröder, who is now Deputy Director of the R21 think tank; journalist and PEN Berlin spokesperson Deniz Yücel; and — as at every event in the series — the audience.
In August and September, the series will continue ahead of the state elections in Saxony-Anhalt, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and Berlin. “It’s understandable that the entire country is watching the elections in eastern Germany,” says PEN Berlin spokesperson Thea Dorn. “But I think it’s a mistake to always look only at Pirna and never at Pirmasens. People in Kaiserslautern have just as many reasons to worry about the future as those in Königs Wusterhausen. And the structural data and election results of Pirmasens and Pirna are not that far apart.”
Following the opening in Ludwigshafen, there will be a further 18 events, featuring guests such as Büchner Prize winner Ursula Krechel; writers Christian Baron, Daniela Dröscher, Lucy Fricke, Dinçer Güçyeter and Tijan Sila; former Minister Presidents Malu Dreyer and Kurt Beck; former Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing; football commentator Marcel Reif; public intellectuals Hamed Abdel-Samad and Harald Martenstein; journalists Philipp Peyman Engel and Jürgen Kaube; winemaker and former Wine Queen Lena Endesfelder; and university professors Nils Kumkar, Andreas Rödder, Claudia Ritzi and Harald Welzer.
So, Rhineland-Palatinate: let’s talk about Heimat.
PEN Berlin. We stand by our words.
With the kind support of:
