Online Launch of the Stefan Heym Edition Ahasver

Funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG), this digital edition presents an annotated version of „Ahasver” from a historical-critical perspective. It was developed at Chemnitz University of Technology and the Trier Center for Digital Humanities.

The pre-mortem archive that Stefan Heym donated to the Cambridge University Library in 1992 comprises around 300 archival boxes containing manuscripts, preliminary studies for literary texts, audio and video tapes, reviews, newspaper clippings, as well as leaflets and letters. Heym’s literary estate includes numerous drafts of Ahasver, offering insights into the novel’s creation process.

The edition aims to annotate and communicate the novel’s content to a broad audience beyond the academic community. Additionally, it provides insights into the text’s development.

To mark the launch of the digital edition and the conclusion of the project, a workshop for students and interested participants was held at the Chemnitz University Library on March 20, 2025. The event introduced attendees to the edition and provided hands-on experience with the digital editing tool „Transcribo”, developed by the TCDH.

The day concluded with a public panel discussion featuring authors Marica Bodrožić and Martin Mosebach at the university library, focusing on the topic „Literature and Religion”.

Access the digital edition here: https://www.stefan-heym-digital.de/