The Buchbund – The German-Polish bookshop in Berlin

In the minds of Poles living in Berlin the Buchbund is not simply a place to buy books, but equally an events venue where German translations of Polish books are presented as soon as they appear on the market, alongside books by German authors dealing with Polish issues. Its programme of events featuring Polish reportage authors and poets, and its discussions on current social issues in Poland, enjoy great popularity. The Buchbund has already played host to Jacek Hugo-Bader, Dorota Masłowska, Anda Rottenberg, Artur Becker, Ziemowit Szczerek, Brygida Helbig, Uwe Rada, Krzysztof Niewrzęda and many others. Sometimes the demand for tickets is so huge that people have to reserve a seat. Anyone arriving on the spur of the moment then has to reckon with standing only places.

The range of events to date has culminated in the Buchbund publishing its contents in book form. In 2015 it published “Polnisch poetisch”, containing interviews by the well-known translator Esther Kinsky with six poets, Dariusz Sośnicki, Jacek Gutorow, Magda Podgórnik, Adam Widemann, Katarzyna Fetlińska and Jakobe Mansztajn. In 2017 the bookshop published “Perigraphien. Europas Ränder – Europas Mitte”, containing conversations between the literary scholar and writer, Lothar Quinkenstein with other scholars on the life and work of Debora Vogel, Itzik Manger and Arnold Słucki.

The Buchbund has now also become a meeting point for a number of Berlin grassroots initiatives. There are regular meetings of translators, of the German-Polish “O!buch” club, the “Salonik 1-2-3” for children of Polish families, as well as Polish and Yiddish courses.

The huge number of diverse Buchbund events has led to an increasing number of people calling the shop an “alternative Polish Institute”. And even if Marcin Piekoszewski disputes this, and prefers to regard his bookshop simply as an extension to the Institute, the Buchbund’s epithet will probably never disappear. 

Monika Stefanek, August 2017

The Buchbund address:

Sanderstraße 8

12047 Berlin

www.buchbund.de