Understanding the Pain of Others

YouTube premiere "From Kreisky's living room"

Philipp Blom in conversation with Charlotte Wiedemann

Understanding the Pain of Others
Paths to a new culture of remembrance

With her new book Understanding the pain of others. Holocaust and World Memory, German journalist and author Charlotte Wiedemann makes a plea for a modern, empathetic culture of remembrance. At a time when heated feuilleton debates in Germany are giving the impression that it is all about a short-lived battle of positions, she makes it clear: "What we are experiencing is a turning point - we need to re-establish our attitude to history from a cosmopolitan perspective. This means incorporating non-European, non-Western perspectives as well as the demands of a young, diverse generation in Germany. How can the Holocaust and colonial crimes be remembered in the future? Charlotte Wiedemann rethinks the idea of anti-fascism from a global-historical and personal perspective and creates an empathetic concept of remembrance for our time.

Philipp Blom has Charlotte Wiedemann as his guest for a conversation in Kreisky's living room.

Charlotte Wiedemann, is a freelance foreign reporter whose articles have appeared in Geo, Die Zeit, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Merian and Le Monde Diplomatique, among others. She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Centre for Modern Oriental Studies in Berlin and gives lectures on intercultural topics and the culture of remembrance. She is a columnist for the taz newspaper and has published numerous books, including Der neue Iran. Eine Gesellschaft tritt aus dem Schatten (dtv, 2017), Der lange Abschied von der weißen Dominanz (dtv 2019). Den Schmerz der anderen begreifen was published in May 2022 (Prophyläen Verlag, ISBN 978-3-549-100493)

Philipp Blom studied philosophy, history and Jewish studies in Vienna and Oxford. He lives as a historian and writer in Vienna. His most recent book Die Unterwerfung. The Beginning and End of Human Dominion over Nature was published in September 2022 (Hanser Verlag, ISBN 978-3-446-274211)