Raus aus der DDR! Und dann? Über das Ankommen im Westen vor 1989

Information from the organisers

Escape, emigration or the release of political prisoners: there were various ways out of the GDR to the "West". Between the construction of the Wall and the opening of the border in 1989, around 600,000 people left the GDR for West Germany. For many of them, the first stop was the Gießen emergency reception centre. Of the initial three such facilities, only the Giessen site remained fully intact after 1961. From there, the GDR citizens who had left were distributed to the western federal states, where their new lives were to begin. What hurdles and difficulties did they encounter? What made their arrival in a market economy, democracy and a completely new environment easier?

For a long time, little attention was paid to this part of German migration history. People who came to the West from the GDR had mostly integrated well. Others, however, who had more difficulty finding a new home, returned to their old one after German reunification - many of them even before. In the old federal states and West German cities, there was therefore little visibility for the issue, despite the very large number of people affected. This has been changing for some time now. We look to Hamburg as an example, where the history and lives of the GDR citizens who arrived there are being analysed and made visible in various projects. In Giessen, on the other hand, a specially created place of learning and remembrance for the former emergency reception centre opened this year.

At the panel event, we will talk about the search for a home by those who left and how it is remembered today. This will be followed by a separate storytelling café for an in-depth discussion. We will be hosting contemporary witnesses who will talk about their own lives and their experiences between "foreign (and) home" in East and West Germany. And we would also like to invite you to share your own experiences and memories, or your stories from family, friends or acquaintances.