Die Ausweichschule

Class books Readings for school classes with Kaleb Erdmann

On the last day of the Abitur exams in 2002, shots are fired at the Gutenberg-Gymnasium in Erfurt. The narrator experienced this day as an eleven-year-old, was evacuated with his classmates and, in the weeks that followed, registered the helplessness of adults in the face of this act.
More than twenty years later, the event unexpectedly bursts into his life again and triggers an obsessive preoccupation with the subject, which is to result in a novel project. But why reopen old wounds after so many years? What about his memories, which stories did he tell so often that they became true? Kaleb Erdmann, writer and playwright, has succeeded in creating a skillful play with perspectives that is both critical of the public and autocritical: How voyeuristic is our interest in coming to terms with acts of violence? What gives me the right to write about this day? "Die Ausweichschule" was shortlisted for the German Book Prize 2025.

Supported by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport BW

Admission: €3 per pupil | two accompanying persons free
Registration: hornstein@literaturhaus-stuttgart.de, please state your school, class size and class name