If her parents had had their way, she would have become a professional tennis player. But Polina Gordienko wanted to live in freedom and democracy – and get involved in that. So at the age of 15 she left Belarus and went to Germany. She had already begun to learn the language secretly in her old homeland. Four years after she arrived in Munich, she graduated from high school with an average of 1.0. In 2017 she joined the Munich SPD. For her local political commitment, more precisely for her “political, civil society, women’s and equality policy commitment”, the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs has now awarded the 24-year-old the Helene Weber Prize, together with 14 other local politicians from all over the Federal Republic. The honor will be presented by Federal Minister for Family Affairs Lisa Paus in Berlin in March.
Polina Gordienko sits on the Thalkirchen-Obersendling-Forstenried-Fürstenried-Solln district committee for the SPD, is its deputy chairwoman and also heads the subcommittee on social affairs, education and sport. A long-time observer of the committee attests to her confident and “astonishingly quiet” work for a politician. In the Munich SPD she is considered one of the young hopes. “I could never have imagined becoming a role model for other women in politics. I would like to use the voice I now have to make more women more visible in politics,” said Gordienko, commenting on the award. Bundestag member Sebastian Roloff, who nominated her for this award, calls her “a real role model for many.”
Founded
Valerie Hentschel
(Photo: private)
To support local and owner-operated bookstores Valerie Hentschel developed an app. This is intended to create a counterweight to the digital dominance of large chains. Booksellers can present their reading recommendations on “buchpicker”. “The book industry suffers from a lack of innovation, but I believe that it needs a digital transformation to cope with the economic pressure,” says Hentschel. The 28-year-old from Munich won the “Börsenblatt Young Excellence Award 2023” for the project, which is free to use.
Planned
Cora Frost
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
The singer and performance artist is in her old hometown of Munich Cora Frost hasn’t happened for a while. In the spring, however, her alter ego Peter Frost will be heard here with new songs. This good news comes with reference to the first Munich drag festival, which is scheduled to take place from May 1st to 5th, 2024. Frost and other guests from home and abroad are announced under the title “go drag! Munich”.
The five-day event is curated by gender performer Bridge Markland and drag artist Ruby Tuesday; they want to transform the city into a glittering “epicenter of drag art” at the beginning of May. There have already been two editions of this kind in Berlin, so now Munich will host queer artists from various European countries as well as Kenya (represented by Majic Dyke). The festival is supported by, among others, the Pathos Theater, the Gasteig GmbH, the HochX, the Schwer Reiter, the Drehleier and the Munich NS Documentation Center.
Funded
Catherine Stark
(Photo: Jens Kalaene/dpa)
The actress Catherine Stark (“Deutsches Haus”) will take part in the upcoming Berlinale as one of the “European Shooting Stars”. The 25-year-old was named by European Film Promotion on Thursday along with six European actresses and three other colleagues. With the program, the organization invites ten talented people to the International Film Festival in Berlin every year. A special program during the Berlinale (February 15th to 25th) is intended to help them present themselves, increase their awareness and create a network within the industry. Meetings with international casting agencies are planned.
Stark, who lives in Munich, began acting as a child and trained at the Otto Falckenberg School. She played at the Munich Kammerspiele and appeared in front of the camera for films such as “König Laurin”, “Luna”, “Dead Girls Dancing” and television productions. Most recently she appeared in a leading role in the mini-series “Deutsches Haus”: During the economic miracle of 1963, the innkeeper’s daughter Eva Bruhns worked as a translator from Polish and wanted to get married soon. She is recruited for a job for which she is completely unprepared – interpreter for survivors at the first Auschwitz trial. From the jury’s point of view, Stark plays “an emotionally charged and demanding role with ease.” The depth of the character is conveyed through a reserved and convincing portrayal. Former German “Shooting Stars” include Daniel Brühl, Anna Maria bother, Moritz Bleibtreu and Jella Haase.
Collected
Thassilo Franke
(Photo: Kathrin Glaw)
Unfortunately, apart from scientists from all over the world, hardly anyone ever gets to see the 25 million objects from the entire animal kingdom in the magazines of the Munich State Zoological Collection. Some curiosities pick up Thassilo Franke, President of the Friends of the ZSM, is now out for his show “Coole Animals” on Wednesday, December 20th, 7 p.m., in the ZSM lecture hall at Münchhausenstrasse 21. For example, the audience gets to know a mysterious snake that is almost the entire… bird fauna of a South Sea island, “Toadzilla”, the largest toad in the world, and a strange seal. Admission is free.