How four conversations can change your view of the world

"Zeit mit Persönlichkeit" (Time with Personalities" – A different kind of evening in Würzburg

What happens when people meet—not just by chance, but with genuine openness? On May 15, this was exactly what happened at the Falkenhaus in Würzburg. Together with the city library, pics4peace e.V. hosted an evening that was enlightening in the truest sense of the word. And at the end, everyone shared the same feeling: “I'm going home enriched.”

Behind the event title “Zeit mit Persönlichkeit” (Time with Personality) lay a deeply human idea: in 15-minute sessions, visitors met four very different personalities – people with special stories, unconventional perspectives, and experiences that resonate.

The diversity was impressive:

• There was the elderly lady who dared to make a courageous new start in retirement.
• The psychotherapist and theologian who is “critical of ‘his’ church, but still remains loyal to it,” as someone once wrote about him.
• The young woman who traveled to Israel several times during the war to be close to her friend who had been abducted by Hamas.
• The editor with a cheerful disposition and a good sense of humor, even though he has to deal with murder and manslaughter on a daily basis.
• The actress who brings theater and music to rural areas through various socio-cultural projects.
• The female environmental engineer and artist whose passion is painting.
• The world cyclist who quit his job as a teacher to raise awareness of a rare childhood disease.
• The former businesswoman who now helps people lead successful lives.
• The man who helps police officers cope with stressful and violent situations or personal crises, among other things, or
• the language teacher who has lived in Würzburg for over 30 years and still cared for her mother in Uruguay when she was ill.

Those who listened did so not out of politeness, but out of genuine interest.

“I never would have thought how much closeness could develop in such a short time,”

said one participant. And another participant commented:

“Sometimes you look at someone, talk to them briefly—but you don't really know anything about them. Today, I really got to know four people.”

The second part of the evening brought everyone together: moderated by Dr. Pia Beckmann, everyone shared what they had experienced in the one-on-one conversations in a relaxed atmosphere. It was a space for exchange without pretense, without expectations, without pressure. Just genuine encounters.

What made it special was that nothing was spectacular or loud. On the contrary, it was a quiet, intense evening—and perhaps that is precisely why it was so powerful.

What remains? The awareness that

“encounters are possible – if you create the right framework for them,”

as one participant gratefully put it. And the desire to experience more evenings like this. Because, as Martha Maucher from the city library and Pia Beckmann from pics4peace e.V. emphasized:

“People are like books. They carry stories within them.”

On this evening, we immersed ourselves in such stories and experienced new perspectives; any preconceptions we may have had were left behind.