Irgendwann die weite Welt

Historian, author, educator, and activist Lutz van Dijk visited the Goethe-Institut Netherlands several times in 2023. For Holocaust Remembrance Day 2023, for example, he brought forward the history of people who fell victim to German National Socialism during the Second World War due to their sexual orientation or gender identity (Remembering Auschwitz - Sexual Minorities, aswell). He is visiting us again this year to present his autobiographical novel "Irgendwann die weite Welt."

Lutz van Dijk's life begins on the outskirts of West Berlin, in an ugly "Neubau" opposite a refugee settlement, and not far from the Wall. At a time when the word ‘queer’ did not yet exist and ‘gay’ was just a dirty word. His parents argue a lot, traumatized by the Second World War, which was not so long ago: they were only five when Hitler took power and not yet eighteen when it all ended. The older brother is a stranger who wants nothing to do with him. But he seeks and finds friendship with other outsiders like himself, and eventually even love and sex - and the wider world.

Lutz van Dijk tells of his upbringing until he leaves for New York at the age of eighteen - and his arrival in the USA. A moving novel about West Berlin back then - largely unknown even to those who later sought their freedom right there.

Lutz van Dijk, born in 1955 in West Berlin, traveled to the USA at 18 and also to Canada and Mexico. Later, he became a teacher in Hamburg. There he wrote his doctoral thesis on ‘Teacher's Behavior During the Nazi Era’. In 1992, he became a member of staff at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. Since 2001, he lives with his husband in Cape Town, working on a township project for children. He has been involved internationally in peace and LGBTQIA+ liberation movements. As an author, he has written, among others: "Damn Strong Love", "Remembering Auschwitz - Sexual Minorities, aswell" (as co-editor), and "Kampala-Hamburg. Novel of an Escape."

This event takes place in the context of the alumni meeting of the Goethe-Institut's partner schools. It is organized together with the Stichting Anne Frank and deals with the topic of democracy after the reading - moderated by young activists from the Netherlands.

Host or Publisher Goethe-Institut Niederlande