Exhibition: Why Utopia? – Max Frisch and Helmut Schmidt
This fascinating exhibition portrays the meetings between Max Frisch and Helmut Schmidt, and is open to the public from 8 June to 2 September 2022 in the Max Frisch Archive at the ETH main building.
Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt (1918–2015) was an assertive Realpolitiker who steered Germany through a series of dramatic crises during his period of office. The politician and author was always interested in informed and challenging debates, and actively reached out to intellectuals for this purpose.
Swiss author Max Frisch (1911–1991) was an important conversational partner for Helmut Schmidt. He accompanied the Chancellor on the first ever official visit of a German head of state in China in 1975, accepted the SPD’s invitation to the party congress in Hamburg in 1977, and joined a group of intellectuals with whom Helmut Schmidt discussed the causes of terrorism during the German Autumn.
The exhibition by the Bundeskanzler-Helmut-Schmidt-Stiftung and the Max Frisch Archive at the ETH Library provides insights into the meetings between Max Frisch and Helmut Schmidt and their shared reflections on democracy and the economic state of society.
Exhibition
The exhibition runs from 8 June to 2 September 2022 in the Max Frisch Archive, and is open Monday to Friday from 10.00 to 17.00.
Opening event
On Wednesday, 8 June 2022, 18.30, the exhibition will open with a podium discussion in the Audi Max of ETH Zurich. Writer Nora Bossong discusses with Flavia Kleiner, co-founder of Operation Libero and writer Jonas Lüscher about Max Frisch, Helmut Schmidt and the meaning of utopia today.
Moderation: Former member of the cantonal government Markus Notter
Programme
18.00 Doors open
18.30 Beginning of opening event with panel discussion
Welcoming addresses: Andreas Kirstein (Deputy Director of the ETH Library), Prof. Dr Thomas Strässle (President of the Max Frisch Foundation), Dr Meik Woyke (Chairman of the Board of the Bundeskanzler-Helmut-Schmidt-Stiftung).
20.00 Drinks reception
We recommend that you register for the event.