with Cordelia Dvorák, Maryna Kastylianchanka and Felix Ackermann
WHEN YOU GO THROUCH HELL, GO ON - women's letters from Belarusian imprisonment, edited by Cordelia Dvorák (in the edition.fotoTAPETA), is a collection of extraordinary letters from extraordinary women in Belarusian prisons. The female victims of state terrorism in Belarus speak directly through letters and testimonies from prison.
ABOUT THE BOOK
In the summer of 2020, women became the face of the Belarusian revolution. After the hijacked presidential elections, they catapulted their country into the headlines of the world press. The regime responded with brutal repression, and ever longer prison sentences for increasingly absurd 'offenses' are now the norm. In the midst of an everyday life full of harassment, violence and terror, the testimonies of women from prisons in Belarus collected here are a sign of dignity and endurance.
With contributions by Yulia Slutskaya | Maria Kalesnikava | Kazyaryna Andreeva | Natallia Hershe | Volha Klaskouskaya | Nasta Loika | Marfa Rabkova | Alena Hnauk | Hanna Komar | Olga Shparaga | Inga Lindarenka | Anton Sarokin | Vanya Müller
Guests
© Gael Sebastiano
Cordelia Dvorák, born in 1976, author, director and producer. Studied philosophy, literature, theater studies and art history in Paris and Munich, as well as photography in Berlin. Numerous international opera, theater and radio play productions, as well as exhibitions and films, most recently “Und plötzlich hat die Revolution ein weibliches Gesicht” (in production). After working in Paris, Milan and Mexico City, Dvorák now lives in Berlin and on Lake Ammersee.
Maryna Kastylianchanka has been working for a human rights organisation since 2015. She also took part in election campaigns as a journalist until 2021. Since September 2021, Maryna Kastylianchanka has been coordinating a public human rights campaign. Her work focuses on advocating for antidiscrimination, women’s rights, as well as the release of human rights defenders and all political prisoners.
Moderation
© Jan Zappner
Prof. Dr. Felix Ackermann has been teaching public history at the Institute of History at the FernUniversität in Hagen since the end of 2022. In his research, he examines the aftermath of violence in Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine and Germany. Between 2016 and 2022, he was a research assistant at the German Historical Institute in Warsaw, where he wrote about the history of the penal system in the 19th century. From 2011 to 2016 Ackermann taught as DAAD visiting associate Professor for Applied Humanities at the Belarusian exile university EHU in Vilnius. Between 2001 and 2011 he supervised the establishment of the Institute for Applied History at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder). He regularly writes about Belarus for the feuilleton sections of FAZ and NZZ.
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