Academy Program on Migration and Diversity
Thematic Focus of the W. Michael Blumenthal Academy, 2012–20
Until 2020, a thematic focus of our Academy programs was exploring migration and diversity. Though Germany is home to first- and second-generation immigrants from 194 countries, it has only recently begun to view itself as a country of immigration. In this regard, Germany is quite different from countries, like the US and Canada, whose longtime engagement with immigration has given them extensive experience in dealing with inequality and discrimination. Our Academy’s program on migration and diversity are particularly concerned with finding ways to apply that experience to the German context.
Where
W. M. Blumenthal Academy
Fromet-und-Moses-Mendelssohn-Platz 1, 10969 Berlin
Postal address: Lindenstraße 9-14, 10969 Berlin
Events for Experts and the Public
Toward this end, we give experts the opportunity to exchange ideas on innovative approaches to migration research and offer them a platform to present their perspectives to a wider public.
The History of Migration to Germany
Understanding the history of migration to Germany is another priority for the program on migration and diversity. How did migrants come to both West and East Germany? What living conditions did they find? What were their experiences and how did these experiences shape later generations? By raising such questions, the Academy aims to ingrain migration history into the public's historical consciousness.
Interview Series: New German Stories (12)
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New German Stories
From 2014 to 2017, our colleagues from the Academy program on migration and diversity held regular events at the Jewish Museum in a series called New German Stories. The guests' lives speak to Germany, past and present, as a society of migration, and the events take these life stories as a springboard for exploring these themes. Beforehand, the guests were almost always interviewed. We have compiled these interviews for you here.
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Karamba Diaby
“We should close this representation gap”
Interview
26 May 2017 -
Anita Awosusi
On her book Our Father – A Sinti Family Recounts
Interview
6 Feb 2017 -
Ármin Langer
“The boredom of peaceful coexistence”
Interview
18 Oct 2016 -
Marion Kraft
“The part Black soldiers played in the liberation of Germany from Nazism has been largely neglected”
Livestream
6 Jul 2016 -
Çiçek Bacık
“We’ve always been spoken and written about”
Interview
13 Oct 2015 -
Fereshta Ludin
“I wish more people would look in my eyes instead of at my scarf”
Interview
16 Sep 2015 -
David Ranan
“Other but not foreign”
Interview
6 Jul 2015 -
Ahmad Milad Karimi
On his book Osama bin Laden is Sleeping with Fishes
Interview
9 Mar 2015 -
Alina Gromova
Generation “kosher light”. Young Jews of Russian descent in Berlin
Interview
8 Sep 2014 -
Canan Turan
Kıymet or: A cinematic tribute to my grandmother
Interview
4 Jul 2014 -
Urmila Goel and Nisa Punnamparambil-Wolf
InderKinder
Dealing creatively with ethnic classificationsInterview
19 Mar 2014 -
Alice Bota, Khuê Pham, and Özlem Topçu
“New German stories”
Interview
29 Jan 2014
Event Series: New German Stories (4)
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New German Stories
From 2014 to 2018, New German Stories illustrated Germany’s past and present as a multiethnic society through the lens of individual lives. The event series included readings, film screenings, and conversations.
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Germanija. How I Became an Adult and a Jew in Germany
Reading and discussion on Dmitrij Belkin's narrative that also throws light on immigration today, in German
Audio Recording
19 Oct 2017 -
With Karamba to the Bundestag
Reading and Discussion with Karamba Diaby, in German
Audio Recording
1 Jun 2017 -
Vater unser. Eine Sintifamilie erzählt
(Our Father. A Sinti Family Recounts)Discussion and reading with Anita Awosusi, in German
Audio Recording
23 Mar 2017 -
A Jew in Neukölln: My Path to Coexistence of Religions
The theology student and journalist Ármin Langer presents his first book, in German
Audio Recording
19 Oct 2016
