How does a dictatorship come about, and can it be prevented? What is the appeal of an authoritarian regime, and to what extent is it aided by societal indifference? These unsettling questions are posed by the German-language novel Conspirators, the work of Friedrich Bruegel, a German-Jewish writer and Czechoslovak diplomat who worked in post-war Berlin. This rediscovered work from 1949 about the rise of the communist dictatorship in Czechoslovakia was hailed as a literary sensation following publication of its first Czech translation in spring 2026. The novel will be discussed by Prague-based publisher Eva Jelínková and German theologian, politician and dissident Markus Meckel. Excerpts from the original German will be read by actress and journalist Steffi Böttger. The evening will be moderated by Tomáš Jelínek, managing director of the Czech-German Fund for the Future.

Eva Jelínková, Markus Meckel. Moderation: Tomáš Jelínek, reading: Steffi Böttger