We were not prepared for this: war in Europe, the Western alliance falling apart, far-right parties winning elections. It may take a long time until times improve again. What can we do? We must stay engaged—but we also need ideas for how to endure these hard years. Mirjam Zadoff offers a number of suggestions: remain humane, stand in solidarity with those who are more vulnerable, forge unusual alliances, open our doors, and finally read Hannah Arendt. There are countless ways to stay alert and still lead a good life. Let’s begin.

Registration requested by Friday, 9 January 2026: info@weserburg.de

About the author:
Mirjam Zadoff (*1974) studied history and Jewish studies in Vienna and Munich. From 2014 to 2019 she was Professor of Jewish Studies and History at Indiana University Bloomington; since 2018 she has been director of the NS Documentation Center Munich. As a visiting professor, she has taught, among other places, in Zurich, Berkeley, and Berlin. She is an honorary professor at the Technical University of Munich and an adjunct professor at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich. Hanser published Der rote Hiob. Das Leben des Werner Scholem (2014), which received the Fraenkel Prize for Contemporary History, and Gewalt und Gedächtnis. Globale Erinnerung im 21. Jahrhundert (2023). Mirjam Zadoff lives in Munich.

Part of the exhibition Cold as Ice. Coldness in Art and Society
In cooperation with the Arbeitnehmerkammer Bremen

Fig.: Mirjam Zadoff, 2023 © NS-Dokumentationszentrum München, photo: Connolly Weber Photography

This edition of Community Art Night invites everyone to try out transfer techniques to warm up: making your own stickers, working with acrylic plates in transfer printing, drawing each other, and collage.

From 5:15–5:45 pm, an art talk will also take place in the exhibition Cold as Ice. Coldness in Art and Society with Nadezhda Milanova, Commissioner for Migration and Integration for the State of Bremen; Nadine Golly, Executive Director of the Bewegungsstiftung; and Lena Prötzel, Weserburg Museum für moderne Kunst.

About Community Art Night:
During the exhibition Cold as Ice. Coldness in Art and Society, the Project space at the Weserburg opens its doors once a month on Thursday evenings from 5–8:30 pm. Through collective making and encounters, the event offers a warm counterpoint to coldness—open to all, beyond labels, disciplines, or languages.

The program is diverse: printing workshops, painting activities, Silent Reading & Sketching events, or a community choir. The series concludes in March with a clothes swap pop-up and DJ set.

From 5–6 pm visitors can also explore the exhibition Cold as Ice through short guided tours and conversations with members of the local community and the museum team.

Made possible by Sparkasse Bremen and funded by the German Federal Cultural Foundation.

Poems provide an excellent starting point for engaging with texts through illustration. Vivid language, allusions, and atmospheric condensation challenge us to develop our own perspectives on the material: to translate mental content into visual form, to clarify what already exists, to interpret, to contrast, or to shade with irony.

In addition, the course will focus in particular on exploring the interplay between self-written lyrical texts and participants’ own illustrations. Sometimes the illustration follows the lyrical text, sometimes the text follows the illustration, and sometimes both are developed simultaneously in conceptual preliminary considerations.

With its exhibitions and the Centre for Artists’ Publications, the Weserburg offers an inspiring environment and can provide many occasions for writing and illustration exercises.

Course information and registration: info@ankebaer.de

Photo: Anke Bär

In her talk, journalist Andrea Röpke provides insight into why right-wing youth groups are growing in Germany—especially in Bremen and Lower Saxony. What are the social and political causes? The discussion afterward will also address what responses civil society can find. The talk and discussion are part of the program for January 27—Day of Remembrance for the Victims of National Socialism in the State of Bremen.

About the participant:
Andrea Röpke is a political scientist and freelance journalist specializing in far-right extremism. Her in-depth investigative research has been published, among others, by WDR, taz, and Süddeutsche Zeitung online. She has received numerous awards, including the Otto Brenner Prize, the Lighthouse Award of Netzwerk Recherche, the Paul Spiegel Prize of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, and honors as Reporter of the Year and Journalist of the Year.

Exclusion clause: The organizers reserve the right to exercise their right of admission and to deny access to the event or exclude individuals who are affiliated with organizations hostile to democracy or who have previously made, or continue to make, statements that are discriminatory or dehumanizing.

In cooperation with attac Bremen

Fig.: Library of the Weserburg, Photo: Patrick Drescher