Sonja Griegoschewski is a native Berliner and a trained librarian. She has worked for the Goethe-Institut in various capacities since 1991. Since November 2021, she has been the Director of the Goethe-Institut in the Czech Republic, and is responsible for the Central and Eastern Europe region. She specialises in Internet Strategy and managing non-profit projects in architecture, urbanism, sustainability, new media, literature, philosophy, and contemporary art and design.
The institute aims to promote the German language. How is this promotion going, and what are your priorities as the new Director of the Goethe-Institut in the Czech Republic?
Language is a central element, be it in cultural exchange, economic relations or science. Especially in Europe, multilingualism is, therefore, a great advantage. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have strengthened our offer in the area of combined, and purely online, German courses. This offers many new possibilities. With online language courses, we can, of course, reach people all over the Czech Republic, and not only in Prague and the surrounding area. We also work very intensively with schools and teachers across the country to keep German learning attractive through competitions, new teaching materials and training. Maintaining interest in German despite the limitations caused by the pandemic and attracting new target groups online will be our priority in the coming year.
German and Czech culture has the foundations of harmony already in history, as proven with J. W. Goethe. How well known are contemporary German authors in the Czech Republic and Czech authors writing in German in Germany?
The first event that I could start at the Goethe-Institut was reading with Jaroslav Rudiš. He is an excellent example of a Czech author who lives in Berlin and writes in both languages. His books, such as the recently published Winterberg’s Last Journey (the Czech translation has just been published), are very popular in Germany. The author himself travels around both countries with enthusiasm and ease. In addition, of course, authors such as Franz Kafka, Egon Erwin Kisch, Max Brod and Lenka Reiner are still popular in Germany.
Contemporary German authors often need support in the Czech Republic. That is why we are involved in presentations such as Das Buch, the German-language literary programme at the World Book Fair, and organise lecture series such as Translation Thursdays and Terra Litera. Our multilingual online offer “Books to Talk About” has been running very uccessfully for many years. We invite everyone to explore our beautiful library. This, by the way, can also be done digitally through our extensive Onleihe, a digital library.
You have managed cultural institutions and transnational projects. How can business and culture influence each other, and what role can a common language, i.e. German, play in this?
Many Goethe Institutes have a very successful “Unternehmen Deutsch” project, which I know from my time as the Director of the institute in Australia. It is a competition of ideas for career orientation for students who work with local representatives of German companies. This is combined with research and work meetings in companies and offers excellent prospects for young people. In 2021, the winner was the “dishwasher of the future”, developed for Bosch by a class of German students from Melbourne. More than 40 companies are now involved in Australia alone. I would love it if we could set up something similar in the Czech Republic.
Thank you for the interview.
