Psychoanalysis in conversation

November 9th commemorates the fall of the Berlin Wall 35 years ago and the November Revolution of 1918, but also the terrible pogroms of 1938. This day is anchored in our collective memory and connects us with German upheavals in both a positive and negative sense. We look forward to talking to Joachim Gauck and each other on this memorable day.

The increasing climate change, armed conflicts in Europe and the Middle East that do not shy away from the use of nuclear weapons, and, not least, the strengthening of right-wing extremist parties in Europe, are unsettling us. The latest Shell Youth Study shows that, on the one hand, young people continue to have a high level of trust in the democratic state, but on the other hand, they look to the future with concern. For example, 81% of 15-25 year-olds see social cohesion as threatened, 67% fear rising poverty in our society, and the fear of the effects of the climate crisis remains at a consistently high level of 64%.
 

In his revised theory of anxiety, Sigmund Freud explained in 1926 that anxiety is part of life and that people deal with anxiety in very individual ways. It can stimulate development, paralyze, some numb it, some displace it to something actually harmless. In his latest book, published in 2023, Joachim Gauck describes the extent to which our democracy is being shaken from within and without: “Erschütterungen - Was unsere Demokratie von innen und außen bedroht” (Agitation- What Threatens Our Democracy from Within and Without). As a pastor, he was already a key figure in the peaceful revolution of 1989, and later, as the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Archives and Federal President, he was one of the most influential shapers of democracy in Germany.