Review of the 14^th German-Czech Cultural Days in Ostrava – DER KULTURPUNKT

This year′s edition of the German-Czech Cultural Days – THE CULTURAL POINT – offered a varied and rich programme that attracted numerous visitors and received very positive feedback. Dr Milan Pišl officially opened the entire festival of German-language culture on 8 October 2025 at the Komůrka Club in Ostrava. Participants learned about the events and programme items they could attend throughout autumn and witnessed the ceremonial launch of the new publication by the head of the Department of German Studies, Doc. Martin Mostýn. Lecturers from the OeAD and DAAD gave a presentation on current trends in social networks and showed which interesting personalities from Austria and Germany are worth following. We ended the opening evening of our multi-genre cultural festival with a swing workshop, where experienced dancers showed how to move to the rhythm of swing.

On 30 October 2025, the first official presentation of the book "I v Terezíně rostou sedmikrásky" (Daisies Grow in Theresienstadt Too) took place in Ostrava. Author and singer Adam Grygar introduced visitors to the personality and work of Erich Adler (1911–1982), composer, musician and entrepreneur from Kynšperk nad Ohří. The book presentation was accompanied by a unique concert in which Adam Grygar, together with pianist Regina Bednaříková, violinist Daniela Grygarová, oboist Radka Ondráčková and the Orlického Quartet, performed forgotten works by this composer. The event took place in cooperation with the Chamber Music Club and thanks to the support of the Ostrava-Jih district, making it the first programme item of our festival to take place outside the city centre of Ostrava.

Throughout the autumn, students and the public were able to watch interesting German films. The students of the Cultural Management course, which was created thanks to the support of the Institute of German Studies as a welcome combination of theoretical and practical project teaching, not only arranged for the films to be shown, but also prepared entertaining film quizzes with small prizes from our partners and sponsors. The film screenings were followed by the now traditional get-together, which once again provided an opportunity for informal encounters and conversations (not only) in German. This year′s film selection reflected important social issues such as the dysfunctional school system (Eingeschlossene Gesellschaft and Das Lehrerzimmer), problems of growing up and relationship turmoil (Hammerharte Jungs), but our goal was also to entertain the audience with conversational comedies (Ein Fest fürs Leben and Spieleabend). We would like to thank the MY BAR 13 bar on Stodolní Street, which made it possible for us to screen the films and where we were able to meet for our regulars′ table.

On 5 November 2025, Vladimír Šmehlík gave a guided tour of Moravian Ostrava entitled "Češi, Němci, Poláci a Židé aneb zrození velkoměsta” (Czechs, Germans, Poles and Jews, or the Emergence of a Metropolis), which gave participants an insight into the historical development of the city and its multicultural roots. Despite the bad weather, a large number of people attended, and the tour, which was full of interesting information and details not found in any guidebook, was extremely well received.

Another item on the programme was a performance by the Prague theatre group To téma / Das Thema, which brought the legendary strictly bilingual Czech-German competitive cabaret full of linguistic banter, physical altercations and the harmony of both cultures to Ostrava. The performance "Gefühl und cit" by this group came to Ostrava on 18 November 2025 and combined both languages and cultures in an original way at the Komůrka club, with the participants having a lot of fun.

On 25 November 2025, writer and musician Andrej Murašov, alias PARTIZAN, visited Ostrava and enriched the Culture Days with a reading and rap performance at Komůrka. There he presented his new book Der Himmel ist so laut. The artistic performance of this German author, who works as a freelance writer, has a doctorate in hip-hop and has been performing as a rapper and beat producer for many years, was original in many ways. Visitors were able to enjoy a literary reading combined with catchy songs, giving the book′s message a completely new dimension. DAAD lecturer Christopher Szwabczynski, M.A., moderated the discussion with Andrej Murašov about writing lyrics and composing music.

A traditional and very popular part of the programme was the Strudelabend (Strudel Evening), which took place again at Komůrka on 4 December 2025. Part of the evening was a knowledge quiz about interesting facts from German-speaking countries with attractive prizes from our partners and sponsors. The quiz was complemented by a tasting of fine wines from the renowned U Kapličky winery in Zaječí, with expert commentary by sommelier Lucie Kynická. The highlight of the evening was the competition for the best strudel, which had a sweet and a savoury category. The main prizes went to strudels with the original names “Karamelisiertes Schätzchen“ and “Hänsel und Gretels Strudel“.

Following last year′s successful theatre performance about Franz Kafka, the Master′s students, under the direction of Dr Irena Šebestová, decided to prepare another theatre performance. On 9 December 2026, they performed a literary-theatrical programme entitled "In the Footsteps of Thomas Mann", in which they presented the life, work and interesting facts about the Nobel Prize winner for literature. We invited students from the Faculty of Philosophy as well as partner secondary schools from the Moravia-Silesia region to the Czech-German performance.

Good and meaningful concepts are worth repeating, which is why we once again invited secondary school students from across the Moravia-Silesia region to take part in the German-Czech Cultural Days in Ostrava this year. The school groups attended 12 film screenings at the Stará Aréna, enjoyed a double theatre performance by the Czech-German cabaret and appreciated the enthusiasm of the student theatre group in the programme about Thomas Mann.

We are particularly pleased that we have succeeded in involving other cultural institutions from Ostrava in our festival – thanks to our cooperation with the Moravian-Silesian National Theatre, German studies students were able to attend the performance of "Soumrak nad krajinou" (Twilight over the Landscape) at a significantly reduced admission price.

The 14^th edition of the German-Czech Cultural Days was organised by the Institute of German Studies at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ostrava and the association KULTURPUNKT OSTRAVA, z.s. in cooperation with the festival partners: Goethe-Institut, Austrian Cultural Forum in Prague, DAAD, OEAD, Theater Aréna, Klub Komůrka, Stará Aréna, Moravian-Silesian National Theatre, OSTRAVA-JIH district, the companies Ostrava Airport Multimodal Park, Siemens, Deutsche Bahn Cargo Czechia, s.r.o., PROVALVE ČR, s.r.o and the association Sádek projekt, z.s. We would like to express our sincere thanks to all our partners, supporters and sponsors.

Special thanks go to the organising team of the German-Czech Culture Days, consisting of Dr Milan Pišl and Renáta Jurdová. We would also like to thank the students of cultural management, namely Michelle Krell, Kateřina Lutišanová and Lucie Ondruchová, for their help and preparation of a whole series of events.

We look forward to seeing you again next year at the next edition of Der Kulturpunkt: German-Czech Cultural Days, where we will once again offer a rich programme full of cultural events, music, films and interesting encounters.