This event has been ended!
Konferenz - DER SAAL IST VOLL! Wir übertragen auf Leinwände!
Conference - THE ROOM IS FULL! We transfer to screens!
Event by: Theater Ost
Location: Moriz-Seeler-Straße 1, Moriz-Seeler-Straße 1, Berlin - Bezirk Treptow-Köpenick
About event
Let's get the public property back!
We need you! A conference to save the Theater Ost will take place on November 1st, 2025, 6 p.m. Your signature, your support, your participation contribute to this. Free entry, if you can, donate. There will be speeches, videos and maybe music. More details coming soon. And here is our demand:
The same thing has been happening again and again in this country for 36 years: Because the East comes from public ownership and has not been able to accumulate wealth, it is being bought by the West and to a large extent has no chance of helping to shape society. This also happened with the Theater Ost, which is located and works in the listed former television theater of the GDR television and later studio of the most important news program in the GDR, the “Aktuelle Kamera”. The latter was also the GDR's most important propaganda center and for this reason alone it is important to preserve and tell the story if you do not want to close your eyes to today's reporting.
In 2021, the building was contractually handed over as a ground lease from the property of the State of Berlin, which managed the building "in trust", to a West German investor whose interest is not in securing the contents described above and who leaves us as tenants completely alone with the difficulties of the building in need of renovation. On the contrary, its continued existence is currently being blocked from all sides. We would have liked to have acquired this historic building, which we have breathed back into its original life as a theater and which tells more GDR history than many others, and used our artistic language to contribute to reporting on the GDR in all its facets and East Germany to this day. But we don't have the money, we don't have the millions.
The foundation for dealing with the GDR's economic history and its public property was laid by the Treuhandanstalt, founded in 1990, which had the task of privatizing, renovating or liquidating the GDR's assets, the public property in the form of businesses, real estate, restaurants, etc. Since the trust was able to act with almost no control and was hopelessly overwhelmed, the Western greed for profit and arrogance gave rise to countless frauds, which made it possible for many investors and trust employees to privately enrich themselves to the tune of millions using the trust funds. There is even talk of one of the largest looting operations in the world. The Federal Ministry of Finance at the time remained quietly in the background and simply allowed the Treuhandanstalt, which had more power than the state ministries, to act, but also to endure the wrath and beatings of the GDR citizens. And it was precisely this approach that laid the foundation for the fact that to this day the East has remained virtually penniless, merely spectators and vicarious agents of the united Germany and attempts are still being made to keep their identity down. A convergence of the two different societies was and is systematically prevented, the numbers of AfD voters are rising and rising, the German-German divide is reaching proportions that were not even seen in the 90s.
André Nicke, director of the Uckermärkische Bühnen Schwedt: "Culture is not a luxury. It is the invisible infrastructure of democracy. It creates places where people can talk, argue, find compromises. Whoever closes these places creates empty spaces in which loneliness grows - and extremists gain a foothold. Studies by the European Commission show: those who take part in culture vote more often, volunteer more often, and are more likely to get involved - regardless of income or education. The WHO proves: culture Reduces loneliness, strengthens mental health and thus political resilience. It is not culture that is expensive - leaving out culture is. Every closed cultural place is an open gateway for radicalization.
We, all 36 volunteers at Theater Ost, want to take back the public property and take over the leasehold agreement. We feel obliged to secure and further develop this historic building with its history: To prevent it from being forgotten! In this context, we call on our current government, more specifically the Federal Ministry of Finance and the State of Berlin, to support this symbolic act of apology and to provide financial support for the takeover and renovation of the building. There is an urgent need to come to terms with this and make amends and this responsibility always lies in the hands of politicians.
ENTRY IS FREE, BUT REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED! Please contact us via [email protected] or [email protected]
We need you! A conference to save the Theater Ost will take place on November 1st, 2025, 6 p.m. Your signature, your support, your participation contribute to this. Free entry, if you can, donate. There will be speeches, videos and maybe music. More details coming soon. And here is our demand:
The same thing has been happening again and again in this country for 36 years: Because the East comes from public ownership and has not been able to accumulate wealth, it is being bought by the West and to a large extent has no chance of helping to shape society. This also happened with the Theater Ost, which is located and works in the listed former television theater of the GDR television and later studio of the most important news program in the GDR, the “Aktuelle Kamera”. The latter was also the GDR's most important propaganda center and for this reason alone it is important to preserve and tell the story if you do not want to close your eyes to today's reporting.
In 2021, the building was contractually handed over as a ground lease from the property of the State of Berlin, which managed the building "in trust", to a West German investor whose interest is not in securing the contents described above and who leaves us as tenants completely alone with the difficulties of the building in need of renovation. On the contrary, its continued existence is currently being blocked from all sides. We would have liked to have acquired this historic building, which we have breathed back into its original life as a theater and which tells more GDR history than many others, and used our artistic language to contribute to reporting on the GDR in all its facets and East Germany to this day. But we don't have the money, we don't have the millions.
The foundation for dealing with the GDR's economic history and its public property was laid by the Treuhandanstalt, founded in 1990, which had the task of privatizing, renovating or liquidating the GDR's assets, the public property in the form of businesses, real estate, restaurants, etc. Since the trust was able to act with almost no control and was hopelessly overwhelmed, the Western greed for profit and arrogance gave rise to countless frauds, which made it possible for many investors and trust employees to privately enrich themselves to the tune of millions using the trust funds. There is even talk of one of the largest looting operations in the world. The Federal Ministry of Finance at the time remained quietly in the background and simply allowed the Treuhandanstalt, which had more power than the state ministries, to act, but also to endure the wrath and beatings of the GDR citizens. And it was precisely this approach that laid the foundation for the fact that to this day the East has remained virtually penniless, merely spectators and vicarious agents of the united Germany and attempts are still being made to keep their identity down. A convergence of the two different societies was and is systematically prevented, the numbers of AfD voters are rising and rising, the German-German divide is reaching proportions that were not even seen in the 90s.
André Nicke, director of the Uckermärkische Bühnen Schwedt: "Culture is not a luxury. It is the invisible infrastructure of democracy. It creates places where people can talk, argue, find compromises. Whoever closes these places creates empty spaces in which loneliness grows - and extremists gain a foothold. Studies by the European Commission show: those who take part in culture vote more often, volunteer more often, and are more likely to get involved - regardless of income or education. The WHO proves: culture Reduces loneliness, strengthens mental health and thus political resilience. It is not culture that is expensive - leaving out culture is. Every closed cultural place is an open gateway for radicalization.
We, all 36 volunteers at Theater Ost, want to take back the public property and take over the leasehold agreement. We feel obliged to secure and further develop this historic building with its history: To prevent it from being forgotten! In this context, we call on our current government, more specifically the Federal Ministry of Finance and the State of Berlin, to support this symbolic act of apology and to provide financial support for the takeover and renovation of the building. There is an urgent need to come to terms with this and make amends and this responsibility always lies in the hands of politicians.
ENTRY IS FREE, BUT REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED! Please contact us via [email protected] or [email protected]