For centuries people have immigrated from far and near to Berlin. This fact is not new for many “Berlin old-timers”, because their ancestors belonged to the earlier migrants. Today around 440,000 people of non-German heritage live in the city. Most of them are considered to be foreigners. How long will it take before their descendants can be identified and seen as ‘native’?
Berlin is a ‘cultural patchwork’. Migrants have always decisively shaped the face of the city. This exhibition shows why and how they manage(d) this through eight objects and their contexts. They are expressions of the migration processes in Berlin from the last third of the 19th century to the present.

Plastic sack, Berlin, 2003 Photo: Sandra Steiß, Museum Europäischer Kulturen

The digital work by Cida de Aragon, entitled ‘Migration is a Creative Situation’ serves asan atmospheric introduction. It is an interactive computer installation – a reference to the work of the philosopher Vilém Flusser – comprising words, sounds and animations in three languages: Portuguese, English and German. The words and sounds represent feelings and thoughts reflecting my daily life experiences in foreign countries; the words appear and disappear, looping in several simultaneous layers, as a metaphor for everyday thoughts. The images are graphically manipulated in an intensive manner, incorporating elements of contemporary visual communication and language from video clips.

The main screen with sixteen cells is made up of an arbitrary selection of words, related to experiences of life as a migrant. Three highlighted words (Identity, Heimat, and Memory) branch out into further sections. They appear as red cells, indicating to the participant that interaction is expected by clicking the mouse.The opportunity of living in a multi-cultural society where one can have the privilege of contact with several cultures can only enrich one’s being. Cida de Aragon

 

Migrants were also creative, who developed and transplanted ideas with their experiences and technical abilities in order to earn money.

Trade and Industrialization
The barrel organ is inextricably identified with Berlin. It was especially popular in the beginning of the 20th century, when the barrel organ industry in Berlin became internationally renowned. The firm Bacigalupo, whose Northern Italian founder came to Berlin via Hamburg in 1873, particularly contributed to this. He was one of many immigrants who lived in Berlin as craftsment, tradesmen, and workers. They helped the capital of the German Empire build itself into a metropolis.

Barrel organ the Bacigalupo Company, Berlin, 1920s . Photo: Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz

Foreigners who were specially recruited for time-limited jobs in industrial companies wanted the same thing.

Temporary Work?

Postcards with the motif of a Berlin Mosque served in the recruitment of Turkish workers during the 1960s. They were promised a “piece of ‘Heimat’” in the foreign country. A lack of manpower prevailed in the Federal Republic of Germany during the time of the “economic miracle”, which was taken care of from 1955 to 1973 through the use of manpower from Mediteranean countries. Until the 1980s the German Democratic Republic took foreigners from socialist “brother countries” under contract. After the end of their work contracts many of these migrants stayed in Germany.

Advertising postcard of the Siemens Company, Berlin, 1965. Photo: Siemens-Archiv München

 

Having fallen into economic difficulties because of unemployment some of them discovered a hole in the market and became self-employed.

Work for the Livelihood

After the 1973 cessation of recruitment, the further moving in of migrants took place in the framework of reuniting families. Thus many former “guest workers,” together with their relatives, established the center of their lives particularly in Berlin. The structural crisis of the early 1980s resulted in the unemployment of many migrants. Quite a few became self-employed, for example, in the area of the “Döner Industry”. Today the Döner Kabob is among the most popular fast foods in Germany.

Döner snack bar, Berlin, 2003. Photo: Metin Yilmaz, Berlin

Many migrants maintain contact with their country of origin out of social and economic reasons.

Migration and Transnational Relationships

“Cocoverde” – made from coconut fibre – is manufactured in Sri Lanka and sold in Berlin as potting soil. This peat substitute is more than just an import product, though. Behind it lies a network of cross-border relationships developed by individuals. These so-called transmigrants can be mediators between the cultures by making available their knowledge and abilities from both their society of origin and host society.

Selling of potting soil in garden center, Berlin, 2003. Photo: Sandra Steiß, Museum Europäischer Kulturen

 

They identify with their cultural heritage, even if their life is centered in Berlin.

Religion and Work

There are often small altars with god figurines, bowls of offerings, pictures and everyday objects to be seen in Asian snack bars and businesses in Berlin. According to Buddhist belief, they are intended to protect the managers and their families during work. Many customers perceive such arrangements as exotic décor. Religious symbols are to be encountered at various workplaces. These show how strongly religion can belong to people’s identity, independent of their cultural origin.

Altar in an Asian snack bar, Berlin, 2002. Photo: Dong-Ha Choe, Berlin

Often, however, they are confronted with misunderstanding and stereotyping by others.

Tradition and Conflict

There are women of various ages wearing headscarves to be seen in Berlin’s street scenes. Most Berliners know little about the cultural background of this manner of clothing. The fact is that people are stereotyped and judged by other people on the basis of their outer characteristics, like clothing or skin color. A more differentiated way of thinking is necessary here. So, for example, women’s reasons for wearing a headscarf differ greatly.

Street scenes in Berlin-Kreuzberg, 2002. Photo: Alejandro Dhers, Berlin

 

This can be counteracted through mutual acquaintance and cooperation.

Identity through Community and Work

Community feelings are supported and made materially visible, like, for instance, on the T-shirts for the action “Colorful Kreuzberg Cleans Its House”. Measures like this can serve to build identification with a place and result in a feeling of being at home – independent from generation or culture. Employment is important for many, whether in a job or doing voluntary work. It cannot only lead to earning a living, but also build self-confidence and respect.

Event “Colorful Kreuzberg Cleans Its House”, Berlin, 2002. Photo: Metin Yilmaz, Berlin

Many migrants leave their native countries in order to improve their living conditions. Not a few have been forced into immigration out of political reasons. In every case migration is a trip into the unknown.

Next to aspects of the history of migration, histories of the central objects have also been displayed. Last but not least, the biographical details of the people who had and have to do with these things belong to this.