Between 1989 and 2005, about 200,000 Jews immigrated to the Federal Republic from Ukraine, Russia and other states of the former Soviet Union. Today, people with a post-Soviet background make up a large part of the Jewish community in Germany. Their stories are an important part of the reunified Germany, but in museums and schoolbooks their stories are hardly or only marginally mentioned.
The installation by the artist group andpartnersincrime in the foyer of the Jewish Community allows these people and their different perspectives to have their say. Based on interviews conducted by the journalist Erica Zingher with twelve people from three generations, videos were created that deal with the departure and the arduous attempt to build a new life in a foreign country. They tell of hopes and disappointments, of remaining a stranger and then somehow arriving. They tell of a country that first welcomes people with great gestures, who then partly feel forgotten. And of people who enrich this country with their history and their very own perspective.
For the walk-in installation "Im Dazwischen Angekommen" (Arrived in Between), the group of artists led by director Eleonora Herder set up a complete living room in the foyer of the Jewish Community. Mementos from the old homeland mingle with pieces of furniture that were quickly purchased after arrival and have at some point become outdated. Personal objects can be read as traces of an individual life or as ciphers for an exemplary existence. Preserving jars are stacked on the shelves, a crossword puzzle that has been started lies on the table, and a strong-smelling soup has been simmering on the stove top for an indeterminate amount of time. The visitors find themselves in a supposedly intimate space between here and there, whose occupant seems to have just set out.
The videos shown here revolve around the questions: What can Jewish memory in Germany look like today against the background of a multitude of experiences and biographies? How is the Shoah remembered and narrated from a post-Soviet perspective? How can and must the culture of remembrance in Germany be expanded to include the voices of those who have long since become part of this country?
