Michael Defuster

Michael Defuster is co-director of the cultural foundation Herengracht 401. Under his leadership, the former publishing house Castrum Peregrini transformed into a cultural centre focused on freedom, culture, and friendship. He redeveloped its real estate and improved access to its cultural heritage.

Defuster has curated exhibitions, theatre productions, and lectures exploring the foundation’s WWII history, driven by the central question: Why were innocent people forced into hiding? His work examines themes such as fanaticism, friendship, the paradoxes of freedom, and cultural memory.

Trained as an architect, he has worked with Dutch architectural firms and the Urban Development Department of Amsterdam. From 1998 to 2008, he has edited the German-language cultural magazine Castrum Peregrini. Currently, he is establishing a new cultural space in Athens.

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