War or Peace

When the First World War ended with the triumph of the Allied forces, entire empires – the Ottoman, Habsburg and Romanov dynasties – vanished from the map. The German empire was forced to surrender vast territories and lost its colonies overseas. The end of the First World War led to an implosion of imperial power structures, the traces and effects of which are still felt today.

How significant is the religious, cultural, militaristic and economic legacy of these empires? How is the “Great War” anchored in global consciousness today? And can an examination of conflicts which sparked World War I help us to better understand the conflict zones of the present?

One hundred years following the end of World War I, the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin has organised an artistic programme which addressed these questions together with international theatre artists. In various theatre productions, guest performances, lecture performances, discussions and workshops, the artists and theatre producers have investigated the global legacy of this war and the challenges facing democratic thinking today.

The artistic programme for “War or Peace. Crossroads of History 1918/2018” was a collaboration between the Maxim Gorki Theater and the Federal Cultural Foundation, and was supported by the Federal Agency for Civic Education and the German Federal Foreign Office.