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On the first anniversary of Alexei Navalny's death, Michael Maertens reads texts by one of the most famous political prisoners of the 21st century and Katja Kolm reads those of his wife Julia.
Navalny's letters and his speeches at court hearings have become a special literary genre in which he appears as a sober analyst, a passionate prophet, a stern and ironic accuser and a loving husband. He dissects the Russian government, describes the conditions in Russian prisons, takes excursions into Russian history and shares personal experiences. His epistolary legacy tells the story of the Russian resistance and how to maintain humanity in inhumane conditions.
Katja Kolm began collecting Alexei Navalny's prison writings in 2021. After long preparation, she developed the reading ‘Hallo, hier spricht Nawalny’, which was premiered for a German-speaking audience at the 2024 Salzburg Festival - with the kind permission of Julia Nawalnaja. The translation and the German adaptation are by Katja Kolm and Isolde Schmitt.
The selected writings fall within the period from September 2020 to February 2024.
‘Nawalny's texts are a legacy, harrowing documents of resistance and contemporary history, but also documents of willpower and love.’ (Süddeutsche Zeitung)
