Artists on the front line – witness against war’s shadow — coming soon
Fire
the old myths driving him on
Bréon Rydell dropped out of school. No certificate, no safety net. He carved his own syllabus — a hidden flow: protest songs, folk, jazz and blues, even Mahler under big skies, Paolozzi’s Chelsea studio, Jung and Campbell in the margins. Heidelberg opened its doors as if to say — yes, this counts.
At Heidelberg, the classroom turned into a sparring ground. Art, literature, philosophy, politics — nothing stayed abstract. Bréon brought lived experience, and the professors knew it.
One of them said outright: probably the most radical voice to teach in a German university since the seventies.
They made him the first Expert in Residence, then a Visiting Fellow — recognition of the spark, the creativity, the work. Heidelberg wasn’t a detour. It was proof the hidden syllabus carried weight.
From there, the work widened — poetry, theatre, music — the same hidden syllabus moving out into the world, carrying its fire.
Bréon Rydell with Prof. Dietmar Schloss, teaching at the HCA.
A FREE THINKER — CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO
Heidelberg didn’t just open its doors — it handed Bréon Rydell a desk at the Center for American Studies, the university’s hub for U.S. culture and politics. Rydell sketched a course — The American Dream in the 21st Century: Where Are We Now?
He co-taught with Professor Dietmar Schloss, who named Rydell for what he was: a free thinker, someone with an original mind.
Schloss was the first academic to read Rydell’s early poems. He called them “quest and initiation literature,” and spoke of them as works of resonance.
In the classroom, Rydell would leave a moment of silence after each poem — Schloss said that helped students find their own voice. With a wry smile, he once remarked: “Many of the students talk about a revolution. I think Bréon Rydell would quite like that.”
FROM THE HEART OF UKRAINE
In early September 2022, Bréon Rydell made his way, via Poland, to Ukraine, where he would witness the devastation of the war for himself. Here was a country fighting for its survival and freedom.
Bréon Rydell, in Kyiv, with Armed Forces of Ukraine Liaison Officer, Sept 2022.
Correspondence Heidelberg, May 2023
Bréon —
I have watched your films on the war in Ukraine and am deeply moved. You show what art can do, placing your full confidence in it, and inspiring others to act.
Your public speaking is persuasive, as the Sky interview revealed. Witnessing the damage in Ukraine must have been difficult, but it is this lived experience that gives power and truth to your art.
As I said when we first met: we needed you at Heidelberg, and we need you in Germany today.
“You are the light, the spark, the spirit of inspiration. The world needs you, your words and vision, now more than ever.”
— Prof. Dietmar Schloss.
University of Heidelberg.
— RESISTING RUSSIAN IMPERIALISM — an open letter by BRÉON RYDELL
On Thursday 24th Feb, 2022, Russia launched a large scale invasion of Ukraine — this was an act of war.
In the 20th Century alone, how many millions were murdered by the forces of fascism? How many were slaughtered by tyrants of terror who sought absolute and limitless power?
Read the full essay at:
breonrydell.substack.com/publish/home