Remembering Migration in Museums and Public Spaces

The industrial regions of the Ruhr Area and the Rhineland have been shaped by migration since the 19th century. During the economic miracle, the Federal Republic signed recruitment agreements with countries in Southern and Southeastern Europe, and in 1963 also with South Korea. In Solingen, factories hired so-called “guest workers” – first from Italy, later mainly from Turkey – who worked in the cutlery industry as well as in textiles and steel. In the early 1990s, political debates about the economy and immigration coincided with a wave of far-right violence. In 1993, the arson attack in Solingen, which killed five members of the Genç family, deeply shocked the city, North Rhine-Westphalia, and the entire country.

Our workshop takes up this history by exploring remembrance projects in Solingen and the surrounding region. Together we will visit exhibitions, memorials, and neighborhoods to discuss how labour migration in general and specifically female perspectives are negotiated and remembered in museums and public spaces. The program also includes panels, workshops, and conversations with curators, educators, and civil society actors. In addition, we will work on further developing the FeMig.Lab platform, which highlights the biographical accounts of female migrants and experiments with their digital presentation through a new web design concept.