What archives will historians of the future turn to in order to provide a comprehensive and representative picture of German society since the 1960s? What access to archives, letters, diaries, whether in analogue or digital form, will they even have? And how broad will the spectrum of migrant perspectives be in the available archive material?

Together with Racha Kirakosian (German Medieval Studies), I’m organizing a workshop on this topic in Freiburg on July 14. In the evening, we’re also hosting a public reading along the theme “Migration, outer and inner. Identity, plural and none. Words, uttered and unheard” on 14 July, 2023. Diana Miznazi, a Syrian architect who left her home country due to the ongoing war, will read a selection of poems by Zohair Kirakosian (1949–2005), who fled Syria for Germany in the mid-1980s. The award-winning German author and member of Die Junge Akademie Senthuran Varatharajah will then present his own poetic impressions of these texts. All texts are currently unpublished. The event will be held in Arabic, English, and German.

If you wish to attend the reading, please email Yvonne Borchert at: borchert@diejungeakademie.de