Bernhard Schlink's visit with us

Despite his busy schedule, he made time for our pupils on 25.03.2024 and came to Zwickau at the invitation of the International Schools Reinsdorf to talk about his work and his life and, of course, to read from his work.

To ensure that this reading reached as wide an audience as possible, we took advantage of our good relationship with the Käthe-Kollwitz-Gymnasium, where the event took place. Thanks to its experience with the School in Dialogue (SID) project, the KKG was able to offer a really nice setting, which we also enjoyed as guests and partners.

After a musical introduction, Mr. Schlink read from "The Reader" and answered numerous questions about this work as well as his current titles "The Granddaughter" and "The Late Life". Our 10th grade also took an active part in the discussion and it was really nice to see that the initial skepticism of some of our students quickly disappeared. The time flew by. Nele, who traveled all the way from Meerane and has set her sights on gaining the international Abitur in Reinsdorf, spoke for the majority of her peers when she said: "At first I didn't know if it was really for me, but then I was really surprised how nice and interesting the reading was and what a pleasant person Mr. Schlink is."

Many young people were particularly impressed by the fact that Mr. Schlink does not plan his stories so much and, to the disappointment of the teachers present, does not meticulously search for stylistic devices that he can incorporate. Both struck a chord with the students and were a welcome reminder that literature should also be enjoyable. It is therefore no surprise that many of our pupils had their copy of the reader signed by him and were thus able to take home a truly hand-picked memento of their school days in Reinsdorf. 

We would like to thank Mr. Schlink for his time, his patience in answering our questions and his refreshing words. We are also very pleased about the cooperation with the other two schools and hope that we will be able to welcome such pleasant guests again in the future.