Objekt des Monats
Jedes Objekt in der Sammlung des Deutschen Auswandererhauses erzählt eine ganz persönliche Auswanderungs- oder Einwanderungsgeschichte. In dieser Rubrik stellen wir Ihnen jeden Monat ein anderes Objekt vor – eine Fotografie, ein Dokument oder ein persönliches Erinnerungsstück.
October 2024
Orthopedic brace, ca. 1975
Historical Context
In August 1952, Australia concluded a recruitment agreement with the Federal Republic and established a support program for migration projects in collaboration with the Federal Republic. For Australia, economic policy is central, as the population drastically decreased due to heavy losses in World War II since the 1930s. The government particularly needs and seeks young male skilled workers.
The program initially provides a temporary residency permit limited to 2 years with the prospect of permanent settlement in Australia. Additionally, funding for emigration, which many people in post-war Germany could not otherwise afford, is provided by both states. Moreover, a crash course in English and Australian culture is offered, aimed at facilitating rapid assimilation into Australian society. Statistically, a significantly higher percentage of German refugees and displaced persons than those who lived in the western regions before the war choose to emigrate to Down Under. This might be due to the fact that they still felt unestablished and perhaps unwelcome in the Federal Republic.
Short biography
Günter Karkoska was born on November 5, 1936, in the East Prussian village of Millucken (Miłuki) in Masuria. Here, he grows up with his twin brother Karl-Heinz and other siblings on the family farm. In the winter of 1944, he escapes with his family from the front lines of the war, first to Königsberg and then further west. Günter Karkoska is initially placed as an evacuated orphan in a children’s home in Oldenburg. After a bureaucratic tug-of-war over guardianship, the siblings finally move together to Castrop-Rauxel in the Ruhr area.
In 1959, Günter Karkoska decides: “Emigrating to Australia sounds good.” Through an acquaintance, he learns about the migration program of the Australian government, and in December of the same year, he boards the Dutch ship “Groote Bear” in Cuxhaven, reaching Fremantle and thus Australia in January 1960. Günter Karkoska takes various jobs, for example as a so-called farmhand. While searching for minerals, he meets Rosalie Cziesmann (known as Rosie) in 1965. She herself has a tumultuous migration and life story as a so-called Danube German. Rosalie Cziesmann suffers from polio in her early childhood and endures years of surgeries and mistreatment in Nazi hospitals in Stuttgart before she can emigrate to Australia. From that time, she retained a shortened leg and a deformed foot. The two marry and build a house together in the city of Mount Isa, Queensland. Rosalie Karkoska passes away after a long illness in 2000.
Günter Karkoska is now retired but can still often be found in Mount Isa, for example at the regional market or on his daily 4 km walk.
Significance of the object
The splint is part of the orthopedic shoe that is being made for Rosalie Karkoska. Following a tip from acquaintances, the Karkoskas travel to Germany. Günter Karkoska continuously makes adjustments to the shoe for his wife. The splint not only represents the independence and empowerment of Rosalie Karkoska, who lives by the motto “Don’t feel sorry for yourself” and even climbs mountains with the help of the shoe, but it also symbolizes transnational connections of migrants like Günter Karkoska. Additionally, the object signifies shared experiences and being each other’s “support” in difficult situations.
Do You Also Have …
… a story of emigration or immigration in your family that you would like to share with the German Emigration Center together with the related objects and documents for its collection? Then please contact Dr. Tanja Fittkau by phone at +49 471 / 90 22 0 – 0
or by e-mail at: t.fittkau@dah-bremerhaven.de