Network

Migration Lab Germany brings together actors and institutions working in the field of migration studies across a variety of disciplines, including experts drawn from museums, memorials, theaters, migrant organizations, non-formal educational initiatives as well as post-colonial city tours. In the future, our goal is to involve partners from other European countries as well. Our aim is to develop a Migration Lab Europe.

The ultimate objective of this expert-guided dialogue is to acknowledge migration as a positive social norm and to understand social diversity as a constitutive part of our democratic society.

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Layla F. Saad

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Network Partners in Detail

More about RIM

Re-Imagining Migration (RIM) is a non-profit organization based in the US.

"Re-Imagining Migration – It’s not an option, it’s an imperative.

Re-imagining Migration addresses one of our nation’s most challenging issues today: the ways that polarization, prejudice, and hatred between people of different identities, backgrounds, and perspectives are dividing and damaging our communities and our nation. In the current environment, children of immigrants are often targets of overlapping prejudices as both members of immigrant families and as young people of color. These factors impair their academic, social, and civic opportunities for success, and imperil the prospects for our shared democracy."

Learn more about RIM: https://reimaginingmigration.org

More about the Memorial

In 2015, the memorial known as the "Denkort Bunker Valentin"described its own history in the following words: “In Bremen-Farge, ‘The Bunker Valentin’ was one of the largest armaments programmes of National Socialist Germany. From 1943 to 1945, thousands of forced labourers from all over Europe worked on the bunker construction site. For decades, there was a debate about the post-war use of the submarine yard, which had been built by forced labour. Even the demolition of the oversized concrete hall was considered. Finally, in the 1960s, the German Navy used parts of the building as a materials depot. After the Navy left, the senate of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen hired the “Landeszentrale für politische Bildung” to construct and run the “Memorial Bunker Valentin” as a site of remembrance and a place to become more informed about historical events.

As part of the "Multi-pERSPEKTif" project, people with and without migration backgrounds and/or refugee experiences follow the traces of Nazi history in Bremen and Northern Germany in excursions to historical locations, which sometimes take place over several days. In educational seminars, they talk about issues such as current and past wars, displacement, exclusion, persecution, violence, deportations and forced migration. In the context of Migration Lab Germany, they will participate in an excursion that involves recording short videos and interviews, which will then be converted into an educational format.

Learn more about the The Bunker Valentin Memorial: Denkort Bunker Valentin

More about DOMiD

The association behind the Association Documentation Center and Museum on Migration in Germany (DOMiD e.V.) was founded by migrants in 1990. According to the DOMiD itself, the center holds the nation’s largest collection of objects and testimonies documenting the diverse history of migration in Germany. DOMiD also publishes various research reports and organizes numerous exhibitions on migration, migration history and migration society. Since its formation, DOMiD has played an important role in establishing and maintaining a culture of memory and remembrance in German society. The aim is to anchor the multifaceted history of migration in contemporary social discourses as well as in official German narratives.

Drawing on an existing project called #Meinwanderungsland, DOMiD is developing a school workshop on the subject of “Learning with objects – Understanding racism.” The idea here is to develop concepts for Migration Lab Germany that can be adapted to other target groups, such as teachers in training, employees in administration or migrants and internal organizations. The goal is to expand the scope of topics discussed to raise awareness and to adapt their content to fit the working / learning / living environments of the new target group(s).

Learn more about the Documentation Centre and Museum of Migration in Germany e.V.: domid.org

More about EOTO

Each One Teach One (EOTO) e.V. is a community-based education and empowerment project based in Berlin. “The name Each One Teach One was influenced by the context of black resistance movements. It refers to the lack of access to formal education in the era of enslavement and colonialism and the need to pass on knowledge within black families and communities.”

The project “We are here because you were there – Afrodiasporic perspectives on flight and migration” consists of an (online) series of lectures, performances and roundtables on migration and flight from the perspective of Black, African and Afro-diasporic people. The aim of the project is to document Black perspectives on migration and bring them to larger audiences through public educational events.

Learn more about Each One Teach One e.V.: eoto-​archiv.de

More about GHWK

The memorial and education center known as the "House of the Wannsee Conference" (GHWK) offers a variety of educational opportunities, such as guided tours, seminars and study days focusing on the persecution and murder of European Jews, the history of Nazism as well as its prehistory and aftermath. Job-specific study days and seminars are held with adults. The center also offers teacher training events.

As part of the project “Flight and Migration from a Historical Perspective – Young People Discussing Structural and Content-Related Continuities,” pupils in the 9th grade of a cooperative school will found a working group called “Flight and Migration. Drawing on materials from the House of the Wannsee Conference Memorial and Educational Site, the teenagers will combine six historical stories of Jewish flight with current topics of their choice. The participants will publish their work in a brochure as a way of encouraging others to conduct similar research on the subject of “Flight and Migration”.

Learn more about the House of the Wannsee Conference Memorial and Educational Site: https://www.ghwk.de/de

More about Campus Rütli

The Rütli School seeks to strengthen and connect to the worlds of children and adolescents. Their mission is to make sure that “no child, no teenager gets lost,” and they offer a range of music-based activities to students in grades 1 to 13. The school aims to create a full-time day program and to be a “welcoming place of diversity and community.”

As part of the teaching project “Migration LiVe – Exploring Life in Diversity,” pupils are encouraged to discover the diversity of migrant living environments in Berlin-Neukölln by planning, conducting and videotaping interviews with contemporary witnesses. The interview guidebook draws on the work carried out at “Re-Imagining Migration.” The results of the students’ work are then presented to the public in the form of images and direct quotes on campus.

Learn more about the Rütli School: cam­pus­ruetli.de/gemein­schafts­schule

More about Gorki X

The Gorki X designed a platform for exchange at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin. The X is a “pictogram for meeting at a common ground,” The platform is about interaction and exchange and focuses on being a meeting point for people. The aim is to enable active participation in the theatre, discussion topics, spaces for discourse and realms of thought. Everyone is acknowledged and addressed here: groups, individual visitors, theater experts as well as newcomers and basically everyone between the ages of 16 and 96. In addition to workshops, discussions, project days, laboratories and clubs, there are also performances and play developments. The idea is to create the opportunity for creative exchange in spaces that are open to everyone.

In the project “No Forgetting – Next Generation! Mediation Project for the NSU Exhibition,” the Gorki X connects to the current exhibition on the NSU complex with the title “Open Process.” For this special project, 10 to 15 teenagers are brought together to work in a group and think about how to convey the exhibition. The aim is to use art formats such as interventions or performances to make the exhibition accessible to a wider audience.

Learn more about the Gorki X: gorki.de/de/gorki-​x

More about the Center

The German Emigration Center opened in 2005 with a bold and innovative concept. At this museum, people and their experiences are seen as being at the centre of history and of their own stories. “The German Emigration Center is a museum that not only spotlights history; it also transforms it into an impressive, multimedia and sensual experience. This is a museum that inspires its visitors to empathize and reflect. This type of exchange fosters insights and experiences, ideas and questions about an important part of human history: migration.”

Based on the concept of Design Thinking, the project “Music Moves Us – Musik bewegt uns” works with teenagers on topics of migration and music. The ultimate aim is to generate an interactive video. The video content will be created and shaped in various workshops with the young people as well as in collaboration with partner institutions belonging to the Migration Museums Network. The video will also include objects and biographies from the DAH collection.

Learn more about the German Emigration Centre: dah-​bremerhaven.de

More about the Network

The Hamburg network "Teachers with a history of migration" is an association of volunteer teachers, social workers, trainee teachers and student teachers. Their work focuses on the potential held by a culturally and linguistically heterogeneous society as well as on the social participation of people with migrant backgrounds and the quality of Hamburg’s educational institutions. This is supported by working to open up schools to intercultural issues – with a focus on recruiting teachers with migration backgrounds.

“The network sees itself as a platform for committed teachers, social pedagogues, trainee teachers and education students with migration backgrounds, helping them to realize their own ideas in service of the intercultural opening of our education system and to find like-minded colleagues. Interested parties are given the opportunity to present their ideas in the form of short concept drafts to the network’s spokesperson.”

The digital photo exhibition “New German Teachers” developed out of an existing project and presents 19 portrait photos of teachers with migration backgrounds. The teachers are intentionally not shown in a school context so that the focus is on their own biography. In addition to the representation of a heterogeneous team, the idea is to render the diversity of the individual biographies visible. The title “New German Teachers” is intended to open people’s minds and create a space to reflect and meet up.

Learn more about the Hamburg Network “Teachers with Migration Backgrounds": https://li.ham­burg.de/netz­werk/

More about KIgA

The Kreuzberger Initiative gegen Antisemitismus (KIgA) e.V. is a long-standing educational provider that enjoys nationwide recognition. KIgA develops innovative concepts for the pedagogical examination of anti-Semitism in a society shaped by migration. They develop theoretical and practice-oriented pedagogical approaches with a focus on anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim racism and historical and political education.

As part of the project “Discover Diversity – Between the Present and the Past,” educational offers will be developed relating to the topic of “linked memories?” Context is provided by discourses of memory and remembrance as well as the linking of discourses about anti-Semitism with flight and migration debates. The aim is to develop an approach and workshop format that is able to deal with sometimes contradicting narratives and areas of focus. Topics include such themes as transnational entanglements and multiple perspectives using the example of the confrontation with the Holocaust, colonialism and Jewish-Syrian history in German and Middle Eastern memory.

Learn more about the Kreuzberg Initiative against Anti-Semitism: kiga-​berlin.org/index.php

More about Neuengamme

The Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial (KZ-Gedenkstätte Neuengamme) sees itself as an international site of learning. Visitors are invited to investigate questions relating to the past and present in different ways. The aim of the memorial is to work in a reflection-oriented manner, to promote a critical awareness of history and to connect the communication of the history of Nazism to current issues.

“Forty years ago, on October 18, 1981, the ‘Neuengamme Document House’ was opened on the edge of the former Neuengamme Concentration Camp site, which was still used as a prison at that time. For the first time, visitors were able to inform themselves about the history of the camp on the camp site itself; survivors were given a contact point; and an era of active research, mediation and networking began.”

The project “Open Perspectives – Sharing Stories: Memories of National Socialism and World War II from the Perspective of People of Eastern and Central Eastern European Origin in Germany” is focused on people with migration backgrounds or origins in Eastern and Central Europe. Their perspectives on Nazism, the Second World War and the memory of Nazi crimes in Eastern Europe are the main themes of this project. The aim is to process the results of roundtables and discussions with these individuals for use in historical-political educational work. The idea is to open up diverse perspectives on the culture of remembrance in Germany’s “migration society.” Additionally, people learn to question the common narratives of Germany’s culture of memory and remembrance as well as the associated assumptions regarding relevant speaker positions.

Learn more about the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial: kz-gedenkstaette-neuengamme.de

More about Friedland

The Friedland Museum tells stories of migration and is a site where the past and present meet. Since 1945, over four million people have passed through the Friedland transit camp. As an active first-stop reception facility, the border transit camp is still a place of diverse migrations today.

The project known as “MYgration. People share objects, stories and perspectives” brings together individuals of different origins, with or without migration backgrounds, through personal objects and (migration) stories. In three workshops, their experiences are connected to historical input and creative-artistic processing. The concept used here will be transferred to other museums and cooperation partners in rural areas (e.g. district centers, refugee accommodation, etc.).

Learn more about the Friedland Museum: museum-​friedland.de

More about the Center

Since May 2015, the NS Documentation Centre in Munich has been a central place of learning and remembrance, focusing on the crimes of the Nazi dictatorship and dealing with their causes, manifestations and consequences up to the present day. The questions posed by the exhibition concept are: “What does it have to do with me?” and “Why should it still concern me today?”

The digital history project “Departure Neuaubing – European Histories of Forced Labor” is an interactive and interdisciplinary web application that tells the story of Nazi forced labor as a European-wide occurrence. The starting point is the warehouse of the former Reichsbahn train repair works (RAW) in Neuaubing. By means of various artistic and journalistic approaches, the project explores the history of forced labor, exploitation and marginalization as well as their continuities to the present day.

Learn more about the NS Documentation Centre in Munich: ns-​dokuzentrum-muenchen.de/home

More about querstadtein

“querstadtein e.V.”offers city tours in Berlin designed by people “who are usually talked about a lot: people who used to be homeless and people with experiences of flight and migration.” The city guides show and discuss public spaces, tell of their own experiences with those places and share their perspectives on the big city.

As part of the project “Telling Migration Stories Ourselves – The Potential of the City Tour Format,” the idea is to create an audio collage composed of interviews and direct quotes from the city guides, complemented by live recordings of the city tours known as the “Berlin Migration Stories.” On these tours, the city guides connect public places with their own biographies. They speak about their experiences with flight and migration, from arriving in the city to their subsequent activities in Berlin. In addition to an audio sample, a handout will also be developed.

Learn more about querstadtein e.V.: querstadtein.org

More about the Foundation

The Foundation Digital Gaming Culture (Stiftung digitale Spielekultur) describes itself as a “foundation for the German gaming industry and an opportunity ambassador.” Since its creation in 2012, the foundation has worked to link the digital gaming world with political and social institutions in Germany.

The project “Initiative: To remember with games – research from digital games with subjects about migration spotlights games about migration and remembrance culture and seeks to make them more visible. In addition, they make an effort to answer the question of how games can contribute to the culture of memory and remembrance, and how a respectful and sensible handling of history can be developed, especially regarding the Nazi era in Germany.

Learn more about the Foundation for Digital Games Culture: stiftung-digitale-spielekultur.de

More about the Association

The Association of Binational Families and Partnerships (Verband binationaler Familien und Partnerschaften) works nationwide as a counselor at the intersection of family policy, migration policy and education policy. The association is often the only advocacy group for bi- and transnational or global families and couples at both the national and local level. Their focus lies on the human rights of all families and couples living in Germany, regardless of origin and identity. They use their extensive knowledge and experience at all levels and make a significant contribution to a diversity-conscious and discrimination-sensitive society.

As part of the project “You, the hill who stayed. An inauguration poem for what is to come," young people are invited to write a poem. Based on the poems of Amanda Gorman “The Hill We Climb” and Rainer Maria Rilke’s “You, the mountain, who stayed,” the aim is to generate a poem from a young BIPoC perspective that describes today's social conditions from a post-migrant perspective. The poem should use allusions and be explained using illustrated accompanying material.

Learn more about the Association of Binational Families and Partnership: www.verband-binationaler.de