Käthe 35 – Biography of a Berlin House
A storytelling play with music
A research project by the artist Britta Wilmsmeier and the architect Simon Lütgemeyer resulted in a narrative play. Based on biographies of people who have lived in the Berlin house Käthe-Niederkirchner-Str. 35 over the last hundred years, Britta Wilmsmeier developed a storytelling play with music: Käthe 35 – Biography of a Berlin House.
It tells how historical-political developments influenced people’s lives. It follows the biographies sometimes over 2-3 generations, some of which could be traced to the present day. One focus is on the fact that this was a so-called ‚Jewish house‘. Here, too, the storytelling piece connects the past with the present and tells of how, in a commemoration ceremony with former residents, friends and neighbours, a silent doorbell plaque was installed at the house in 2019, on which all 83 names are written of the people who fled from this house, were deported or chose suicide.
The storytelling play Käthe 35 – Biography of a Berlin House aims to link the past with the present and shows how much the past is connected to the present. It is about humaneness and reaches out for a better understanding of human conditions.
It encourages a critical and humane engagement with history and one’s immediate surroundings and at the same time shows the ambivalence of biographies.
The performance includes a talk afterwards.
