The Foundation’s namesake is the great German author Heinrich Böll (1917-1985), who was a model of active citizenship embodying values the Foundation stands for: defence of freedom and all human rights, social courage, tolerance, public intervention and open debate. Along with the 10th anniversary of our Office in Thessaloniki, we proudly celebrate the 50th anniversary of the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature to the author of "The Clown", "The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum" and "Group Portrait with Lady".

A theatrical event, based mainly on the book "When war broke out and other short stories" and written especially for the occasion, takes us to the main stages of Böll’s life and his traumatic experience of his participation as a soldier in the World War II, bringing to life an atmosphere of both ruins and social resistance. Subtitled screenings will assist foreign-language audiences, while quotes by the author from our publication "Between the Lines" will be distributed and excerpts from Böll’s speech at the Swedish Academy at the Nobel Prize ceremony will be heard.

The night will be concluded with the musical group "Roll the dice".

"When the war broke out"

A theatrical performance dedicated to the author Heinrich Böll

Direction-dramatization:

Dimitris Sporidis

Performed by:

Chrysa Goutou

Socratis Logothetis

A story about war can be related to a love story.

A story about war can be related to the demolition of your childhood home.

A story about war can talk about the dominance of the media in times of fear and weakness.

Heinrich Böll does not talk about war. He talks about gazes... About the communication of people. After the war. About the scars that still remain on us. About the guilt of feeling free.

About a crippled democracy that always forgets... and the more it forgets, the more crippled it becomes...

Note by Dimitris Sporidis:

"On the occasion of Heinrich Böll's book “When War Broke Out and Other Short Stories”, the author's best-known characters come together to join forces against man's greatest guilt: war. Böll, one of the few writers to expose the cracks in post-war Germany, reminds us that an economic miracle should not be based on the guilt of a past that smells of death, and neither should it sweep it under the carpet.

Let us hear the cry behind the words of the seemingly simple characters of this great author. The need to redefine values. The call for personal movement away from what makes us feel safe.

To understand that behind a seemingly democratic profile there can be fascism. And that the wound is not yet closed. It is here, dangerous and unbearable. Like war...".

"Roll the dice"

The music band "Roll the dice" from Thessaloniki covers well-known songs of the international and Greek repertoire with a jazz and swing mood.

Roll the dice:

Yota Papadopoulou - voice

Paris Karagiannopoulos - guitar, voice

Pavlos Nikou - saxophone, clarinet