Legacies of the Berlin Wall: A Conversation with Aron Boks (Max Kade Center)

Please join us for a conversation (in English) about the Legacies of the Berlin Wall with Aron Boks, Lafayette's 2025 Max Kade Writer-in-Residence.

We will speak about the popularity of the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) in former East Germany, Germany's responses to Russia's war on Ukraine, and a generation of young authors who are writing about the aftermath of the Berlin Wall. 

Monday, April 28, 2:45–4:00 pm
109 Simon Center
Responses by Prof. Joshua Sanborn (History) and Prof. Angelika von Wahl (International Affairs) 

Aron Boks was born in Wernigerode, Saxony-Anhalt in 1997. He is an author, slam poet, and activist based in Berlin.

In 2019, Aron Boks received the Klopstock Prize for New Literature. His latest book, Nackt in die DDR (Naked to the GDR), was published with HarperCollins in 2023. Combining documentary style and immersive writing, the book traces the life and work of his great-granduncle, Willi Sitte, who was an influential painter and public figure in former Eastern Germany. 

In his current book project, Aron Boks continues to examine the aftermath of a divided Germany (1949–1989), focusing on family histories, labor conditions, and political transformation from the perspective of a generation born after the Fall of the Berlin Wall.  

Since 2021, Aron Boks has been writing for the German newspaper taz and the taz.FUTURZWEI column "Voice of My Generation," which explores the hopes and concerns of young people. In this context, he travels in Europe and the US to conduct research and engage with local communities. 

During his stay at the Max Kade Haus, Aron Boks is offering workshops for German at Lafayette's junior/senior seminar on "Family Histories: Between East and West," developing creative ways of accessing the memories and experiences of the postwar generations.  

Selected publications:

2022: Nackt in die DDR. Mein Urgroßonkel Willi Sitte und was die ganze Geschichte mit mir zu tun hat. HarperCollins, Hamburg.

2019: Komma zum Punkt! Slamtexte aus der Hauptstadt (edited with Wolf Hogekamp, Noah Klaus). Berlin, SATYR Verlag.

2019: Luft nach unten. Wie ich mit meiner Magersucht zusammenkam und mit ihr lebte. Berlin, Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf.

2018: Und über allem Rauch. Verstreute Gedichte. Mainz, Gonzo Verlag.

2018: Dieses Zimmer ist bereits besetzt. Diedorf, Unsichtbar Verlag.

2017: Mittwochskind. Diedorf, Unsichtbar Verlag.

2017: Miese Zeiten. München, Literareon.

Instagram: @aronboks