Weggefährtinnen erinnern - Gedenkveranstaltung für Dr. phil. EVA LEHMANN-LILIENTHAL

Thursday | 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

MEMORIAL SERVICE for 
Dr. phil. EVA LEHMANN-LILIENTHAL
An event organized in cooperation with GEDOK Central Germany and Frauenkultur Leipzig

The multifaceted author Eva Lehmann-Lilienthal passed away in May 2026; she would have celebrated her 95th birthday in August. Born to a Jewish mother, she was one of the few Jewish survivors of the Holocaust under Hitler’s fascism in Leipzig. 

She studied philosophy under Ernst Bloch—and continued to engage with political-economic and philosophical-artistic questions until the end of her life. Time and again, she stood by her own opinions… which brought her some professional setbacks. Yet the mother of two children was and remained a fierce advocate.

In 1989, she saw the events as an opportunity to open up new intellectual and social horizons; she contributed to the drafting of the new all-German constitution, which was presented in June 1991 at Frankfurt’s Paulskirche—but was ultimately not adopted by the Bundestag. In 1992, she co-founded the Ephraim Carlebach Foundation in Leipzig. She found her calling in writing and in engaging with literature; she published essays, commentaries, and poems; and she collaborated with, among others, the “Autorinnen Mitteldeutschland” (Women Writers of Central Germany), who met for several years at the Frauenkultur Leipzig. In 2000, Eva Lehmann-Lilienthal became a member of GEDOK; she was published in various anthologies—and one of her poems gave its name to the 2021 volume of love poems by female GEDOK artists: “… ist die Luft wie Seide…” (“… the air is like silk…”). She participated in exhibitions, founded a philosophical discussion group, and served as a mentor to younger female artists. In 2018, she was honored with theIsolde-Hamm Prizefor her life’s work.

In this event, “fellow travelers” will commemorate Eva Lehmann–Lilienthal… 
including BRIGITTE BLATTMANN, longtime chair of GEDOK Central Germany 
Poem recitation: SIBYLLE KUHNE

Admission by donation to GEDOK
—the artists’ association that was very important to Eva Lehmann-Lilienthal.