On the Run (2010)
On the Run.
Seven Paths to Germany 1980 – 2010
“Never give up!” – this is the life motto of 22-year-old Alan Kadiew. Fleeing at the age of 13 from the Russian Republic of Dagestan, he now lives in Germany with a tolerance status. The special exhibition “On the Run. Seven Paths to Germany 1980–2010.” focused on refugees from Dagestan, Iran, Cameroon, Togo, Turkey, and Sri Lanka, who now reside in Bremerhaven.
Seven million people departed from Bremerhaven to the New World between 1830 and 1974. Among them were hundreds of thousands of refugees. What motivated these individuals to emigrate or flee? What does one hold dear when living in a foreign land? The new special exhibition at the Deutsches Auswandererhaus turns its gaze to the present and showcases responses from today’s refugees.
Research and interviews took a year and a half, conducted by Karin Heß, a scientific employee of the museum. She asked project participants about their reasons for fleeing, their routes, and their new lives in Germany. Additionally, she requested each participant to name their favorite keepsake. The result is seven highly diverse portraits of refugees, united by one common thread: Family and children give them strength to live.
80 percent of the 40 million refugees currently on the move worldwide do not stay in Western industrial nations, but in developing countries. In Germany, there were a total of 529,000 refugees living in 2008; by November 30, 2009, exactly 25,429 asylum applications had been submitted. The conditions under which asylum applications are recognized in Germany are addressed in the special exhibition, as well as the legal regulations that apply when an asylum request is denied.
The special exhibition was created in collaboration with the Pädagogisches Zentrum e.V. in Bremerhaven. The poignant exhibition portraits were taken by the Hamburg photographer Stefan Volk. The exhibition was designed by Andreas Heller Architects & Designers.
Exhibition view “On the Run. Seven Paths to Germany 1980 – 2010”