Blog post - 29. Mar 2025

‘Write your way through the nineties’ took place on 1 March 2025 and 29 March 2025 at the Altes Gasometer with 20 participants.

In the form of writing courses, the project invites people who can consciously remember the period of upheaval after 1989 and would like to share their experiences with others in a literary way. The courses in Zwickau were led by the writer Constanze John. The Alte Gasometer was the host venue for the entire event.

A total of twenty participants met on both days of the course. All of them had a direct connection to Zwickau, either living here today or travelling from Chemnitz, Leipzig or even Frankfurt am Main. They brought with them mementos from the 1990s, such as an old signpost from the EB hiking trail, a sticker album, an official letter of objection and a clipping from a Dutch newspaper about the arrival of guests in Zwickau.

The participants ranged in age from over 80 to the youngest, born in 1989. It was a risk for everyone. But when photos were passed around, photos of themselves in the 1990s, any last shyness or concerns disappeared.

Many texts have already been written, ranging from poems to short stories. In the first step, these will now be collected by the course instructor and then forwarded to the Leibniz Institute and the Life History Archive at the Institute for Saxon History and Folklore in Dresden, among others.

The first public events are already planned for autumn 2025. A reading will take place as part of the NOVEMBERTAGE.

‘Write your way through the nineties’ is a project initiated by the Leibniz Institute for the History and Culture of Eastern Europe (GWZO) in Leipzig and the Leibniz Institute for Spatial Social Research (IRS) in Erkner. It is funded by the Leibniz Lab “Social Upheavals and Transformations”. Other partners include the Zeitgeschichtliches Forum Leipzig and the Institute for Saxon History and Folklore (ISGV) in Dresden.

https://leibniz-gwzo.de/de/forschung/forschungseinheiten/abt-kultur-und-imagination/wissen-und-wahrheit/schreib-dich-durch-die

Text: Constanze John

Photos: Constanze John, Sabine Stach, Roswitha Sachse