"Of rescue bells, tongue pullers and morgues" A tour with the poet Friederike Kempner
She is a Fräulein and has been one all her life. Some people ridiculed her because of her unintentional humor, others respected her commitment to social welfare, her fight against anti-Semitism and apparent death. The Silesian poet Friederike Kempner (1828-1904) stood out as an example when people were worried that they might be buried alive.
On October 5, 2025, she talks about her time, her efforts and the innovations that gave rise to this fear. Doctors, physicists and scientists worked together to put an end to apparent death by launching wild inventions to better determine death and rescue people from the grave. But how or from what did this fear arise? And what does the advent of electricity have to do with it? Why were tongue pullers and nipple pinchers needed, what do Hans Christian Andersen, Bertolt Brecht, Alfred Nobel and Dostoyevsky have in common and what does a corpse keeper do? All these questions will be answered during this illustrious tour.
New Rostock Cemetery, Satower Str. 16
Time: 6 p.m.
Cost: 17,- p.p. plus advance booking fee