Migrants' stories from a new home
In the 1960s, workers from several countries flocked to Germany to support and partake of the country's economic success. An exhibition tells their stories.
Asimina Paradissa in Wilhelmshaven
Asimina Paradissa was 20 years old when she moved to Wilhelmshaven in northern Germany. In the photo, the Greek woman poses in front of the dormitory at the Olympia company. Back then, she took pictures of weddings, parties and visits to the zoo for her colleagues and friends. The 76-year-old is still a passionate photographer.
Enroute to Paris
Many young people moved to West Germany in the 1960s in accordance with recruitment agreements. The so-called guest workers came primarily from Greece, Spain, Italy and Turkey. Yücel Asciglu also came to Germany to work. The photo shows him with three friends on the way to Paris in 1971, where they were planning to spend their Easter vacation.
Wedding Day
Initially, mainly young men like Onur Dulgür moved to West Germany. The photo shows him on his wedding day on Dec. 23, 1965. "That day I was so happy because Monika and I had finally managed to get notarized permission to get married," Dulgür recalls. Monika's German family opposed thre union, so there was no family present at the ceremony.
Keupstrasse, Cologne
This is a 1977 photograph of Cologne's Keupstrasse. The street was the scene of the 2004 NSU right-wing extremist group's nail bomb attack on businesses run by migrants. More than 20 people were injured.
"Turks in Germany" series,1975
The exhibition (June 19-October 3, 2021) showcases private photographs as well as those by well-known photographers, including Candida Höfer (photo). The professional photographs are not the main focus, however — for the first time in the history of the Cologne museum,it is all about private snapshots.
Don't forget the radio
A picture can tell a whole story, as the exhibition's curator Barbara Engelbach says, and this photograph is a testament to that. It shows the Spitareli family in Cologne in 1967. The father holds a radio he bought for his wife so she could listen to Italian radio broadcasts and feel less lonely. The two children only joined their parents in Germany at a later date.
Tales of loneliness
Migrants' stories are also tales of absence, longing and loneliness. Sofia Zacharia had to leave her three small daughters behind in Greece when she moved to Aachen to work. In the photo she and her roommates stand in front of the women's dormitory of the Leonard Monheim company. Photos gave loved ones at home an idea where the migrants lived.
Carefully staged
The photos were often carefully staged, like this shot of Ali Kanatli (front right) with friends in Cologne. The photos "tell of arriving in a new place, of finding one's space, perceiving and shaping one's own living environment," says guest curator Ela Kacel, who initiated the exhibition.
Cramped living conditions
Often the pictures show how the immigrants wanted to see themselves in their new environment. There is no sign of the cramped living conditions in this photo, which shows the Türköz and Ücgüler families in their first shared apartment in Cologne.
Good memories
Often enough, the migrant families lived in houses in need of renovation or in cramped quarters, virtually excluded from the regular housing market. Their photos, however showed the sunny moments in their lives, like the Türköz family's outing along the Rhine River in 1972.
Protests
In the 1970s, migrants begin to openly and actively campaign for an improvement of their living conditions. Throughout Germany, workers took to the streets and shut down entire factories. The photo shows strikers at the Ford plant in Cologne in 1973.
Party time, 1965
"In Situ: Photo Stories on Migration" is also a story of emancipation. It tells tales of people who came to a foreign country, which they discovered for themselves and which ultimately became their home.. It is not only a (photo) history of migration, but also the history of Germany.