Panelists: Jens Bisky, Johannes Nichelmann, Dr. Hennig Tümmers
Moderator: Christine Watty

Screening of the first episode of the new ZDF documentary series about a gay artist couple from East Berlin and a virus that suddenly changed everything in the 1980s. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion about the political and social role of AIDS in the GDR. Why did Erich Honecker’s government wait for years before informing its population? What measures did the authorities take, and how did queer people in particular respond to the threat? What role was the first gay film produced in the GDR, Coming Out, supposed to play in the fight against the disease—even though it does not address AIDS at all? The discussion will also examine the impact of the epidemic on the art world in both East and West. The art theorist Wolfgang Max Faust, who died of AIDS, once observed: “Art is no longer about art. It’s about our lives.”

Jens Bisky, born in 1966, was for many years a culture editor at the Süddeutsche Zeitung and has worked since 2021 as Managing Editor at the Hamburg Institute for Social Research. He is the author of several books, including Berlin: Biography of a Great City (2019) and The Decision: Germany 1929–1934 (2024).

Dr. Hennig Tümmers, born in 1977, is Professor at the Seminar for Contemporary History at the University of Tübingen and author of the book AIDS – Autopsy of a Threat in Divided Germany (2017).

Johannes Nichelmann, born in 1989, is a TV and audio journalist as well as the director of the documentary AIDS – In Times of Love. He is also the author of the non-fiction book Nachwendekinder (2019) and co-founder of the Berlin-based production company nb Studios.

An event by ZDF aspekte, KVOST and Deutschlandfunk Kultur in cooperation with nGbK and nb Studios