Martin Prinz: The Last Days – Reading and Conversation
Image: Prein an der Rax, Karl Josef Gunsam (1900-1972)
April 2, 2026 | 6:30 PM
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Join us for a reading by Austrian writer Martin Prinz from his novel The Last Days (2025), followed by a conversation with Bernadette Wegenstein, Professor of Media Studies and Director for Advanced Media Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
About the Book
Set in April 1945 near Vienna, The Last Days reconstructs a Nazi society in its final weeks, when the war was almost over but the killings continued. Drawing on trial records and contemporary documents, Prinz examines a series of executions carried out by Nazi summary courts against individuals accused of defeatism and desertion. Written in the restrained language of court transcripts, the book confronts questions of individual responsibility, arbitrary power, and the long silence that followed these crimes in Austria. In the final 41 days of the war, more people were murdered in Austria than in the previous seven years. Among the victims were the granddaughters of Olga Waissnix, the muse of Arthur Schnitzler. Two years later, the perpetrators appeared before a people’s court, defending their actions as lawful and invoking obedience to a state that had already ceased to exist. With sober precision, Prinz revisits these events and reflects on literature as a form of remembrance.
About the Author
Martin Prinz was born in 1973 in Lilienfeld and lives in Vienna. He is the author of several novels, screenplays, and travel writings, including The Robber and The Last Princess. His work has received numerous awards, including the screenplay prize at the Gijón International Film Festival. The Last Days, published by Jung und Jung, was shortlisted for the Austrian Book Prize 2025. Image: Lukas Beck
Bernadette Wegenstein
Bernadette Wegenstein is a US-Austrian documentary filmmaker, author and professor of Media Studies at Johns Hopkins University. Her hybrid documentary Devoti tutti (2023) premiered at Biografilm Bologna and won Best Documentary and Audience Awards. The Conductor (2021) premiered at Tribeca Film Festival, won five Best Documentary awards, and was nominated for an Emmy. The short, See Me: A Global Concert, produced during the pandemic, won Best Music Film and Best Editing awards. She is currently in post-production with The Archives, a feature documentary about global Holocaust archives. Image: Coco Meister