Absynt: Make Královec Czech Again!

Book launch and discussion with the writer: 9. 11. at 17.30 in A4 – priestor súčasnej kultúry.

A year ago, a series of calls for the Czech Republic to annexe Kaliningrad flashed around the Czech and Slovak social networks along with related images. There were discussions about the weather in the Královec (Kaliningrad) region, people were planning their holidays by the newly acquired Czech sea. The satire culminated in a happening in front of the Russian embassy in Prague – demonstrators voted in a referendum for the Czech annexation of the Kaliningrad region. With it the slogan Make Královec Czech Again! became a symbol of resistance against the Russian Federation’s attempts to appropriate the occupied Ukrainian areas. But what do we really know about the history of Kaliningrad? Up until recently, it was just a piece of land of Russia between Poland and Lithuania, today it is a possible base for an attack against the West. Paulina Siegień, a Polish Russianist and journalist, deals with the city and its complicated history in her new reportage book Královec. Město pohádka (Kaliningrad: Fairytale City), now published by the Absynt publishing house. The One World Festival provides us with a unique opportunity to talk to her in person about her book.