Philosopher Jürgen Teller commemorated for 100th anniversary

To commemorate the upcoming 100th anniversary of the birth of Leipzig philosopher Jürgen Teller, Talheimer Verlag has released an online recording of a lecture titled ‘Briefe durch die Mauer’ (Letters Through the Wall).

Teller, a student of Ernst Bloch, was a prominent critic of the SED regime in the former GDR. Due to his independent views and advocacy for freedom of expression, he faced persecution by the Stasi and was banned from teaching at his university. Despite this, he supported Leipzig demonstrators and welcomed the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The lecture highlights Teller’s resistance and his long-standing friendship with Ernst and Karola Bloch. Following the Blochs' decision to remain in the West after 1961, the friendship was maintained through a decades-long, often encrypted, correspondence between East and West Germany.