Migrants
in the GDR
The highlight of the project: History in motion: remember, experience, commemorate was the opening of the exhibition Migrant:innen in der DDR in the office of Soziale Dienste und Jugendhilfe gGmbH in Erfurt. Numerous guests came to the office in Erfurt and admired the finished exhibition. After a welcoming speech, the exhibition was ceremoniously opened. Already during the development phase, numerous contacts were made with possible hosts of the traveling exhibition. One of them then presented in a short speech her idea of using the traveling exhibition in her house. Finally, the representative of the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship took the floor.
Afterwards, the exhibition could be viewed and the numerous guests got into conversation with each other. The successful evening was preceded by an intensive development phase. Together with young people with a migration background, the exhibition was developed in the fall of 2022 and historical sources were reviewed. The participants started talking about repression in the GDR, some of which they had experienced themselves. They thought about the layout and how the results of the intensive conception phase could be made accessible to a broad audience.
In addition to historical background knowledge about the history of the GDR, the bilateral treaties that the GDR concluded with the sending countries can be used to trace the development of foreign working people in the GDR. The everyday life of workers and students is brought into focus using the example of Erfurt. Where and how did they live and work? Were they exposed to racism? And what impact did the Ministry of State Security have on the everyday lives of foreign workers in Erfurt? The traveling exhibition answers these and other exciting questions.
After a period of several weeks, during which the exhibition can be visited free of charge at the office of Soziale Dienste und Jugendhilfe gGmbH in Erfurt, it will go on tour. It will be on display in Erfurt at the University of Applied Sciences in Altonaer Straße, at the Kreativtankstelle and at a successor company to a former business that employed foreign workers. Further locations will be announced here in due course. The traveling exhibition can be borrowed free of charge and accompanied by exhibition guides.