Report on the Artists' Scene in Prenzlauer Berg and the Literary Salon at Schönfließerstraße 21

On May 8th: May 8th in the Mirror of the Ukraine War – Songs by Wolf Biermann and Bulat Okudzhava on Guitar

Ekke Maaß, born in 1951 in Naumburg/Saale, studied theology and philosophy. Due to his friendship with Wolf Biermann and his collection of signatures against Biermann’s expatriation, he was expelled from Humboldt University and «decomposed» by the Stasi in the OV Keller. In 1978, he founded a literary salon in his kitchen at Schönfließer Straße 21, which became a significant meeting point for a nonconformist artistic scene. In 2017, the documentation ‹sprachzeiten› was published, compiling texts by then-young authors, Stasi files, photographs, and art exhibited in the salon.

In the GDR, Ekke Maaß maintained unofficial contacts with members of the Soviet army, speaks fluent Russian, and extensively traveled the Soviet Union, where he visited dissident authors and artists, among others. Since 1996, he has headed the German-Caucasian Society he founded, which engages in political, humanitarian, and cultural projects, as well as intensive human rights and refugee work. In 2011, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit. In 2022, his book ‹fluchtzeiten› was published.