Whitman and Democracy on the Dortmund Subway Trains

Whitman and Democracy on the Dortmund Subway Trains

The GEDANKENZÜGE project, carried out in collaboration with the Dortmund Transport Company DSW21 and the Technical University of Dortmund, aims to promote political and cultural education in a multicultural society and emphasize the democratic openness of the city. To achieve this goal, stickers with literary quotes from the prominent American poet Walt Whitman have been placed on the inner roof slopes of Dortmund’s subway trains. These quotes are presented in the primarily represented languages in Dortmund (German, English, Turkish, Arabic, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Russian, and Serbo-Croatian). The focus is on Whitman’s diverse thoughts on democracy, of which he was always acutely aware of its fragility and vulnerability.

Walt Whitman (1819–1892), born in the U.S. state of New York, was a 19th-century American author. During the years of his creative work, the world was closely watching the novel experiment of democracy that began with the American Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. However, Whitman did not want democracy to be limited to his own country. Instead, he addressed the entire world, all countries, regions, cities, nations, and national minorities, people of all professions, origins, skin colors, and sexual orientations, and encouraged them to follow the example of his country. While he recognized the pioneering role of the USA in democracy, he did not want his country to be seen as a dominant force in this process. Instead, he saw his poetry as cultural diplomacy that people all over the world should join.

The placement of stickers on the subway trains in Dortmund was deliberately chosen because these trains serve as meeting places for people, regardless of age, origin, or worldview. A total of 63 of these “thought trains” currently travel through Dortmund, providing readers with an opportunity to pause and reflect on our society’s democratic self-understanding.

The GEDANKENZÜGE project began with great acclaim in 2011, featuring original quotes from outstanding international poets and their respective German translations. Poets quoted at that time included the Egyptian Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz, South American author Eduardo Galeano, and American poet Jude Jordan.

Walt Whitman is no stranger to Dortmund. In November 2022, the outstanding actor Armin Mueller-Stahl presented a self-designed portrait of the American author at the Technical University of Dortmund, which serves as the cover for the newly published German version of the poetry collection “Leaves of Grass.” In December 2023, American literature professor Edward Lowell Folsom, whose research career has been dedicated to Walt Whitman’s work, will be awarded an honorary doctorate at the Technical University of Dortmund during a major event.