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The Pipe Smoker Stands at Zoo Station and Watches Europe

Literary Salon for the exhibition Berlin Transit (with video recording, in Yiddish, German, and Russian)

“I fear you won’t believe me - I have grown fond of Berlin.”

In the Romanisches Café in 1923, Ilja Ehrenburg uttered what was on the lips of many Eastern Jewish migrants: even though Berlin was not a place they longed to be, it was more than just a place of asylum. In diaries, newspaper articles and literary texts, these migrants described their daily lives in Berlin between homesickness, belonging and isolation - in Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew, and German.

The Berlin Literary Colloquium and the Jewish Museum Berlin invite you to the literary salon to rediscover these diverse voices together with Irina Liebmann, Ingo Schulze und Marie Luise Knott.

recording available

Map with all buildings that belong to the Jewish Museum Berlin. The Old Building is marked in green

Where

Old Building, level 2, Great Hall
Lindenstraße 9–14, 10969 Berlin

When & where?

  • Excerpts from Disner Tschajld-Herold/Disner Childe Herold by Moische Kulbak, 1933, translated by Andrej Jendrusch. Fabian Schnedler reads the original Yiddish text (starting at 0:17) and the German translation (starting at 5:38)

  • Golos Obywatelja (The Voice of the Philistine) by Sascha Tschornyi, 1923, translated by Jan Menning. Grigory Kofman reads the original Russian text (starting at 0:15) and the German translation (starting at 3:30)

  • Excerpt from Blindness by David Bergelson, 1929, read by Ingo Schulze, in German

  • The Patriot by Lew Lunz, 1923, read by Ingo Schulze, in German

  • Introductory letter from Zoo, or Letters Not About Love by Viktor Shklovsky, 1923, read by Ingo Schulze, in German

  • Poem from Stichotworenija by Vera Lourié, 1923, read by Grigory Kofman in the original Russian (starting at 0:14) and in German translation (starting at 1:22)

  • Poem from *Fun Berlin bis San Franzisko* by David Einhorn, 1930, translated by Anne-Christin Saß, read by Fabian Schnedler in the original Yiddish (starting at 0:36) and in German translation (starting at 3:00)

Excerpts from Disner Tschajld-Herold/Disner Childe Herold by Moische Kulbak, 1933, translated by Andrej Jendrusch. Fabian Schnedler reads the original Yiddish text (starting at 0:17) and the German translation (starting at 5:38)

Golos Obywatelja (The Voice of the Philistine) by Sascha Tschornyi, 1923, translated by Jan Menning. Grigory Kofman reads the original Russian text (starting at 0:15) and the German translation (starting at 3:30)

Excerpt from Blindness by David Bergelson, 1929, read by Ingo Schulze, in German

The Patriot by Lew Lunz, 1923, read by Ingo Schulze, in German

Introductory letter from Zoo, or Letters Not About Love by Viktor Shklovsky, 1923, read by Ingo Schulze, in German

Poem from Stichotworenija by Vera Lourié, 1923, read by Grigory Kofman in the original Russian (starting at 0:14) and in German translation (starting at 1:22)

Poem from *Fun Berlin bis San Franzisko* by David Einhorn, 1930, translated by Anne-Christin Saß, read by Fabian Schnedler in the original Yiddish (starting at 0:36) and in German translation (starting at 3:00)

A cooperation with the Berlin Literary Colloquium.

When & Where?

  • When31 May 2012
  • Where Old Building, level 2, Great Hall
    Lindenstraße 9–14, 10969 Berlin
    See location on map
Hashtag #JMBerlin

Source: https://www.jmberlin.de/en/der-pfeifenraucher-steht-am-bahnhof-zoo-und-schaut-europa
Printed on: 09/04/2026