In 2023/2024, we produced a documentary video series featuring seven dialogues and three events for the FHXB Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum. The series was part of the exhibition and research project 1973/2023 - Vom »Anwerbestopp« zur Migrationsgesellschaft. Watch the event videos here , here, and here.
On November 23, 1973, the West German government imposed the so-called "recruitment freeze". Rather than ending immigration, however, it marked a shift that contributed to the emergence of today’s migration society. So-called “guest workers” established organizations and institutions in which self-organization, community, and solidarity were – and continue to be – practiced.
- commission
- documentation
- Interviews
- Oral History
- 2023-2024
Fifty years after the so-called “recruitment freeze,” the project creates a space to reflect on its consequences through conversations with contemporary witnesses. The dialogues revisit political debates, lived experiences, and the gaps between policy and social reality.
We recorded a series of oral history interviews that bring together personal narratives and political context, tracing both individual biographies and broader histories of migration. The visual approach is deliberately reduced and focused, creating a calm and attentive setting that allows the conversations to unfold with clarity and depth.
The recordings were conceived for long-term use across different contexts, including archival preservation, film projects, and academic research.
Stills
Credits
Camera, Sound, Editing: Nadja Krüger and Kornelia Kugler
Interviewees: Atiye Altül, Gül Ataseven-Özen, Sevim Çelebi-Gottschlich, Safter Çınar, Mira Renka, Azize Tank, Remziye Ünal Toptaşan
Interviewers: Koray Yılmaz-Günay, Natalie Bayer, Jana König, Kornelia Kugler
A collaborative project between the Institute for European Ethnology at Humboldt University of Berlin and the FHXB Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum
In cooperation with:
Kotti eV
Migration Council
Participation Office
Funded by:
bpb – Federal Agency for Civic Education
Behind the Scenes
