Society “Kleist Memorial and Research Site”

President: Dr. h.c. Hinrich Enderlein, retired Minister of Science, Research and Culture in the State of Brandenburg

Since its foundation on 21.10.1995, this society has functioned as “the body responsible for the Kleist Museum Frankfurt (Oder) and, as can be read in the preamble to its statutes, “it continues the work of the museum ….municipally administrated since 1968.” Its purpose is “the running of the Kleist Museum to promote research and education, as well as art and culture”; it receives the necessary financial means for this from the City of Frankfurt (Oder), the State of Brandenburg, and the Federal Republic of Germany. The Kleist Museum is a literary museum, “which maintains, preserves, and researches into the literary heritage of Heinrich von Kleist, keeping it alive and accessible to the general public.” It is also committed to the literary heritage of Ewald Christian and Franz Alexander von Kleist, as well as Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué. The society realises its aims by collecting and archiving both written and pictorial evidence chronicling the life, work and impact of these poets, by organising exhibitions, readings and other suitable events, by research, and the publication of its own and other research findings. It also works together with schools, universities and theatres, as well as other societies which have set themselves similar aims. Individuals and legal entities in Germany and abroad can become members of the society; an informal application to the address of the Kleist Museum (Faberstraße 7, 15230 Frankfurt [Oder]) is all that is required. The annual subscription is 33 € for individuals and 275 € for legal entities (corporative members). The board may reduce the subscription upon application for individuals with a low income - e. g. schoolchildren, students, senior citizens and the unemployed. Members enjoy free entry to the Kleist Museum and all its events; they also receive the society’s publications. Above all, however, they take responsibility for a valuable element of German cultural life.

Hinrich Enderlein