“Talking to the Past: Classic Phone Booths Bring Historical Figures to Life at the Paulskirchen Festival”

175 years ago, one of the most important events in German history took place in Frankfurt’s Paulskirche. With the Paulskirchen Festival, the city is celebrating the anniversary of the first freely elected parliament in Germany – the Frankfurt National Assembly – at this historic location for four days.

Robert Blum was a member of that assembly on May 18, 1848. What he and many other historical personalities have to say about democracy today can be found out during the four days of celebration at Paulsplatz. In five classic telephone booths, interested visitors to the festival can make 15-minute video calls to the past and experience first-hand what Robert Blum, Clara Schumann, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Margarete Mitscherlich, Fritz Bauer, Gerda Taro, Bruno Vogel and Irmtraud Morgner are up to would answer their questions.

Special item on the program at the Paulskirchen Festival

“We are very pleased that Leipzig, a partner city of Frankfurt, is also taking part in the Paulskirchen Festival with a special program item. The interactive project not only makes history accessible, it also brings important personalities from the past into the present and thus into the awareness of the visitors,” says Lord Mayor Mike Josef.

Actors from the theater “The Cockpit Collective” at the Schaubühne Lindenfels in Leipzig take on the roles of people from the past, with whom you can communicate via video telephony in telephone booths on Paulsplatz. René Reinhardt, Artistic Director and Board Member, says: “We believe that theater is the appropriate medium to make the past and future of a society simultaneously and openly negotiable.”

The official project of the city of Leipzig is being implemented together with the Leipzig Museum of City History and is being funded by Leipzig Tourismus und Marketing GmbH (LTM) and the non-profit Frankfurt RheinMain cultural fund.

“I am very pleased that we were able to win over the Schaubühne Lindenfels with the project ‘On Call Democracy’ for the performance in our twin town. Personalities like Gerda Taro or Robert Blum are examples of democracy and Leipzig – so they are perfect ambassadors for the Paulskirche anniversary,” says Marit Schulz, Head of Marketing at LTM.

“When do you get the chance to talk to people from the past? I invite all guests of the festival to take advantage of this unique opportunity at the Paulskirchen Festival and to ask everything you always wanted to know about Blum, Goethe and Co.,” says Thomas Feda, Managing Director of the municipal Tourismus+Congress GmbH Frankfurt am Main, which also supports the project and organizes the Paulskirchen Festival.

The telephone booths can be used for 50 cents per 15-minute call from Thursday, May 18th to Sunday, May 21st, during the Paulskirchen Festival on Paulsplatz.

“The Cockpit Collective on Air” at Paulsplatz

Thursday 18 to Saturday 20 May from 1pm to 9pm
Sunday, May 21, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m

(Text: PM City of Frankfurt)