30 years ago Bernhard Winter initiated the first “Sunday meeting” in Markt Schwaben. Since then, the dialogue format has taken place 111 times. Here Winter talks about the value of real encounters, explains the criteria he uses to select the dialogue partners and whether the conversation between Cem Özdemir and Campino still takes place.
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Merlin Aquarius, market Swabia
Bernhard Winter, born in 1954, is a psychotherapist, former mayor of Markt Schwaben and a poet. Before studying psychology in Munich, he toyed with the idea of becoming a primary school teacher or conference interpreter, and his interest in people and communication still accompanies him. It probably finds its clearest expression in the Markt Schwabener “Sunday encounters”: In this format, two people come into dialogue about a previously defined topic without moderation. Winter was able to welcome the likes of Gerhard Polt, Gregor Gysi and Nina Ruge as guests, as well as Rita Süssmuth and Johannes Rau. Winter is far from thinking about retiring, as he reveals here.