24 August 2022 Press release

The first Days of Exile ever held in Frankfurt am Main will be taking place from 1 to 17 September 2022. This programme of events and encounters targeting the general public is an initiative organised by the Körber Foundation in Hamburg in cooperation with the German National Library’s German Exile Archive 1933–1945. A varied programme consisting of more than forty events has been created in cooperation with numerous organisations and institutions in Frankfurt. The events, some of which are multilingual, will range from exhibitions, concerts, lectures, encounters, readings and podium talks to theatre performances and film showings. What they all have in common is that they focus on the topic of exile. The programme can be viewed online at: www.tagedesexils.de. The patron of the Days of Exile is the Iranian artist Parastou Forouhar, who is living in exile in Germany.

The aims of the Days of Exile is to provide a platform for people in exile, to build a bridge between the past and present, and to encourage dialogue and mutual understanding between newcomers and long-standing citizens with the goal of improving cohesion in the city.
“Frankfurt am Main is home to a large number of institutions and initiatives which have all kinds of links with the topics of exile and migration. If we work together during the Days of Exile we can make these topics highly visible in the city and draw attention to different perspectives and types of access,” says Dr. Sylvia Asmus, Head of the DNB’s Exile Archive.

The Days of Exile were launched in 2016 by the Herbert and Elsbeth Weichmann Foundation in Hamburg. The Körber Foundation in Hamburg has been co-organizing the event since 2018. This year, the Days of Exile will take place outside Hamburg for the first time. Sven Tetzlaff, CEO of the Weichmann Foundation and responsible head of department at the Körber Foundation: “We want the Days of Exile to help foster solidarity in our society. More and more people are living in exile in Germany. For many Germans, they are strangers, just as the Germans are strangers for many of these exiles. The Days of Exile are designed to help them enter into dialogue. I am delighted that the Körber and Weichmann Foundations have been able to enlist the support of the German National Library’s German Exile Archive 1933–1945 as a cooperative partner in our initiative. This cooperation between the foundations and the memory institution links historic and contemporary views of exile experiences in a particularly fruitful manner.”

The patron of the Days of Exile 2022 will be the artist Parastou Forouhar. She was born in Iran in 1962 and came to Germany in 1991. The world-renowned artist is currently a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts Mainz. Parastou Forouhar is dedicated to fighting political repression and violence and acts as a mediator between cultures. She will be opening the Frankfurt Days of Exile at the German National Library on 1 September 2022.

Patron Parastou Forouhar is convinced that “People who go into exile leave so much behind!”, adding, “My personal path has taught me that life in exile is an ambivalent experience which is not limited merely to the loss of old ties and material objects. Whether or not such a complete break in life is perceived as enriching ultimately depends on how and in what form interpersonal encounters take place. Exchange is key when it comes to feeling at home in a new environment.”

By the time of the closing event on 17 September 2022, visitors will have experienced a rich programme consisting of more than forty events, which will take place in the city of Frankfurt and explore both historical and present-day experiences of exile. They will include a musical festival of diversity staged by four ensembles that are all part of the transcultural initiative “Bridges – Musik verbindet”, and an encounter exploring the meaning of food in exile, which is being organized by Studienkreis Deutscher Widerstand 1933–1945 (German Resistance 1933–1945 Study Group) in cooperation with the ADA Kantine café and Amnesty International. The programme will also include various readings, e.g. an evening devoted to exile lyricists, which is being organised by the literary team of DENKBAR.

Other highlights will include a performance by the string quartet MRIYA, the founding ensemble of the Ukrainian Exile Orchestra, who will be giving a recital at the opening event. The closing event will feature journalist, documentary maker and author Can Dündar, who will be coming to Frankfurt to present his graphic novel “Erdoğan” and talk about his writing and life in exile.

The programme brochure will be available for collection from many places in Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main region from mid-August. It is also available online at: http://www.tagedesexils.de

The key visual for the Days of Exile 2022, which appears in various places including the programme cover, was created by the artist and human rights activist Sara Nabil. She was born in Kabul in 1994 and sought asylum in Germany in 2015. Since 2016, Sara Nabil has been studying art at Offenbach University of Art and Design. The key visual is titled “File Number 605” – the record number under which the file relating to Sara Nabil’s asylum application is stored. Her exhibition “Life without Shadow” will be on display at the gallery Heussenstamm. Raum für Kunst und Stadt during the Days of Exile.
Frankfurt’s Days of Exile will be followed by hr2-kultur as the programme’s cultural partner. The radio station has its own themed weeks focusing on the topic of exile and gives “Voices of Exile” the opportunity to be heard: in music and lyrics, with tips on books and audio books and in numerous conversations. It also broadcasts event tips and recordings of selected discussions.

The following institutions and organisations are taking part in the Days of Exile as event organisers and cooperative partners:

Abrahamisches Forum in Deutschland (Darmstadt), Amt für multikulturelle Angelegenheiten, Arbeitskreis kritischer Jurist*innen, Bildungsstätte Anne Frank, Bridges – Musik verbindet, Café Deutschland – eine ökumenische Initiative evangelischer und katholischer Gemeinden Carl-von-Weinberg-Schule, Crespo Foundation, DENKBAR e.V. Frankfurt, Deutsches Exilarchiv 1933–1945 der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek, DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, Eintracht Museum Frankfurt, Frankfurter Bürgerstiftung, Friedrich-Dessauer-Gymnasium, Fritz Bauer Institut, Gallus Theater, Herbert und Elsbeth Weichmann-Stiftung, Hessische Landeszentrale für politische Bildung, Heussenstamm. Raum für Kunst und Stadt, Historisches Museum Frankfurt, Hörspielgruppe Mienenspiel Mainz,Jüdische Gemeinde Frankfurt im Rahmen der Jüdischen Filmtage, Jüdisches Museum Frankfurt, Junges Museum Frankfurt, Katholische Akademie Rabanus Maurus – Haus am Dom, Körber-Stiftung, Lichtenbergschule Darmstadt / Gymnasium Europaschule (Kulturschule), PEN Zentrum deutschsprachiger Autoren im Ausland, Projektinitiative Schüler:innen gegen Vergessen für Demokratie der Lichtenbergschule Darmstadt, Moses Mendelssohn Stiftung, Museum Giersch der Goethe-Universität, PRO ASYL, Projekt Jüdisches Leben in Frankfurt, Simone Nowicki, SMARTments student, Stadtbücherei Frankfurt am Main, Schulbibliothekarische Arbeitsstelle | sba, Studienkreis Deutscher Widerstand 1933–1945, USC Shoah Foundation – The Institute for Visual History and Education, Verein gegen Vergessen – für Demokratie, We Refugees Archiv von Minor Projektkontor für Bildung und Forschung

Background

About the German Exile Archive 1933–1945

The German National Library’s German Exile Archive 1933–1945 is a platform for discussing the subjects of exile and emigration during the Nazi era. The archive collects testimonies of this exile: publications, institutional and personal legacies – from all walks of life and regardless of the prominence of the individual concerned. The Archive’s goal is to capture the phenomenon of exile in all its variety and to facilitate access to our holdings.
The establishment of the Exile Archive during the early post-war period was initiated by a number of émigrés and other persons who saw it as an instrument of political enlightenment. This is another reason why the Exile Archive attaches particular importance to cultural education: the many aspects of exile between 1933 and 1945 are conveyed in exhibitions and a wide variety of events and publications, thus making a significant contribution to the cultivation of a vibrant culture of remembrance.

About the Körber Foundation

Social development needs dialogue and understanding. The Körber Foundation tackles present-day challenges in the areas of “Innovation”, “International Understanding” and “Vibrant Civil Society” through its operational projects, in its networks and in conjunction with its partners. Inaugurated in 1959 by entrepreneur Kurt A. Körber, the Foundation is now actively involved in its own national and international projects and events. It has especially close ties with Hamburg, where its headquarters are located; it also has an office in Berlin.
The Körber Foundation in Hamburg has been cooperating with the Herbert and Elsbeth Weichman Foundations and many other partners for several years in staging the event and encounter programme “Days of Exile” in Hamburg. Their aim is to bring together historic and present-day experiences of exile and allow them to engage in dialogue.

Contact

Images for editorial use

Images for editorial use with reports on the exhibition. Press image material is only available in German.

Technical note for the image “Tage des Exils – Wort-Bild-Marke mit Ortsangabe”: you can switch to black or white (secondary colours) if the primary colour does not appear suitable. The text and bars must always be in the same colour. Composite marks with specified locations must be at least 15 mm high. Each of the four sides of the exclusion zone must be the same length as the shortest bar in the composite mark.