In times of political and social upheaval, it’s worth looking at the past. One of Berlin’s most important institutions for education and remembrance of flight, expulsion and forced migration is the Documentation Center for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation at Anhalter Bahnhof. Guided tours, workshops and events take place regularly in the building, which houses a library with a witness archive and a Room of Silence. The musical reading of “Großonkel Pauls Geigenbogen” on 10.06.2024 (19h), where musician and civil rights activist Romeo Franz will talk about his family’s life since the end of the 19th century together with author Alexandra Senfft, is one of these events. The book presentation will be accompanied musically by Franz’s son and his Sunny Franz Duo (violin & guitar).
The evening will tell a story of Prussia and Nazi Germany, full of meticulous historical research and family memories, including the self-determined history of the European Sinti and Roma — a story that is rarely told, like so many. Incidentally, the Documentation Center will be collecting a few of the otherwise unheard present day biographical stories until mid-October in the current special exhibition “Becoming Who You Are – Studying Despite Displacement,” which uses personal stories of flight to show how much education gives hope for a better future — just like the Documentation Center’s program.
Text: Alina Herbel / Photos: DokZ
Documentation Center for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation, Stresemannstr.90, 10963 Berlin–Mitte, map
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