Dealing With War, Away From War: Ukrainians freeing themselves from Russian culture, but caught in clashes with Russians in Berlin

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A feature story by Nanna Christ Kiil Johansen

A Ukrainian flag is waving from the roof of Berlin’s Bode Museum. (Johansen)

Julia has been speaking Russian her whole life. Perhaps even more than Ukrainian, despite the fact that she has lived her whole life in Kyiv, the heart of Ukraine. Until February 2022.

“Why do I have to talk in Russian?” she asks rhetorically and firmly continues: “It’s not my mother tongue. It’s not the language of my country. It’s the language of my enemies.”

In a café in Berlin-Mitte, the young Ukrainian is now sitting with the view of the Spree, Bode Museum and its waving Ukrainian flag behind her. The war in Julia’s home country seems far away but is far from forgotten. Here, about 1400 kilometers from the war, she can and will not avoid the effects of it.

Julia, 34, has up until fleeing her war-torn home country, worked professionally in the promotion of national Ukrainian food, within Ukraine and internationally. Promoting the deep red colored beet soup borscht meant creating awareness for Ukrainian culture: “Even Ukrainians didn’t know much about the culture and the food,” Julia explains and continues: “the tragedy is that I also don’t know a lot about my country.” As in other cases of blurred Ukrainian heritage, the iconic soup has been mistaken for originating in the whole of the USSR, however a recent recognition from UNESCO now acknowledges Ukraine’s deep links to the dish.

Not only does Julia consider her cultural heritage in her professional life. After the Russian invasion, she is determined to empower Ukrainian culture in her personal life, taking a stand through boycotting the Russian language she grew up speaking.

Instead, Julia insists on speaking her native language. If she wouldn’t, she is afraid that “nobody in the world would speak Ukrainian, because only Ukrainians can speak Ukrainian,” she says. An act she finds small, but one that seems to be the only thing she can do.

However, Julia is not alone in her movement. Since the outbreak of the war, Ukraine has been making a break with its engraved Russian culture. Changes have especially been seen in language and culture, where Russian street names in Ukrainian cities have been changed, Russian statues have been torn down, and the Russian language has been entirely or partly removed from schools and institutions. Most recently, last Winters’ Christmas was rescheduled from the 7th of January to the 25th of December. A clear signal to Russia that Ukraine has turned towards the West, according to Reuters.

A few German words sneak in as Julia orders a coffee for herself. She is working in a café and at the same time taking a German course, as she wants to fully integrate in the country she has chosen to settle in. Despite the warm welcome that she got when she first arrived, Julia had her doubts about staying in Germany or to pursue settling in the Netherlands or Sweden.

It all came down to the conditions for refugees and another quite surprising factor: “I’m freaked out by European transportation,” she laughs. Having to travel by train with her cat, Julia back then called a friend to share her concern of those six changes reaching Sweden would take. Her friend’s response was: “Julia, you traveled from Kyiv to Berlin. And you have a concern of changing from platform 2 to 3?”

The young woman ended up settling here in Berlin, among the thousands of other Ukrainian refugees, who have come to Germany since February 2022. According to the state of Berlin, with 380,000 registered the capital is among the cities in Germany that have taken in most of the refugees.

However, not only Ukrainians have been escaping since the outbreak of the war. Since the fall of 2022, shortly after Vladimir Putin ordered partial military mobilization in his speech on the 21st of September, hundreds of thousands of Russians have fled the draft that would force them to serve in the war. According to Reuters, many have fled to Germany. Though the exact number of Russians who have fled to Germany remains unclear, one thing is certain: the number of Russians in Germany is rising.

Working in a café in Berlin means international customers, and so Julia notices many languages throughout the day. However, she tends to eavesdrop when Russian is being spoken. Julia’s colleague from the café plays a game while working. It goes as follows: is the customer gay or not? Julia’s game is different: is the customer Russian or Ukrainian?

“I had a situation. One girl. She sat, drinking coffee. We began to speak,” Julia slowly describes, looking out into the room. The girl was doing homework for her German integration course, and the two of them for a moment found common ground. One that would quickly vanish. “I asked her, oh, where are you from? She said, I’m from Russia, and I said, oh, I’m from Ukraine. And she immediately changed her face.”

An innocent conversation between two young women had in the blink of an eye built up an invisible wall, due to their nationalities. Julia softens her voice: “I said; it’s okay. It’s fine. It’s okay. It’s safe to be here with me,” while showing how she kindly tried to calm the girl by touching her arm. But the girl was shocked and felt like she had done something terribly wrong. And so, the young Ukrainian has seen changes in the faces of several Russians in Berlin.

“For now, it’s easy to be Ukrainian. Not Russian here,” Julia says, referring to their social situation in Berlin. She also points out the Russians who are suffering from big and small sanctions, but keeps a strict look as she explains: “I’m sorry that your bank account is closed. I’m sorry that you don’t have an iTunes shop, but it’s the only way we can work with it.”

When Julia meets Russians, she is adamant about not quickly judging them. Other Ukrainian friends of hers, however, see it more “black and white”, as she describes. They are unwilling to see the person behind the nationality. Some want, out of principle, to have nothing to do with Russians here in Berlin. A silent war, one might say, far away from the actual one.

Although Julia has never personally experienced hostile attitudes from Russians, she fears that this is yet to come. She points out a specific pro-Russian demonstration in Berlin on April 3rd 2022, that has made her question Russians she meets in Berlin.

The protest aimed to draw attention to hostility towards Russians, with the participation of 900 protesters in a rally of around 400 cars, according to The Guardian. But what the protest turned out to also include, was pro-war elements.

“Hundreds of cars and flags were on the Berlin streets. They just went out to the streets with Russian flags, Soviet Union flags, Z signs on the cars.” Julia takes a quick breath and repeats demonstratively: “They were here in Berlin!”

The protest was legally organized with police presence, but at least one demonstrator was removed for showing the pro-invasion “Z” symbol, which is forbidden in the state of Berlin. The outcome for Julia was, though, to partly lose trust in the safety of her new city. “I’m afraid to meet these people here and never know who this Russian is – are they from the demonstration or who are they?” she asks worriedly.

In Berlin there are Ukrainians, Russians, Germans and all other kinds of nationalities living side by side. The sun has made its way around the Bode Museum and finally illuminates the room with a golden glow as Julia is finishing up her coffee. The warmth in the room spreads, but just around the corner, the next clash between a Ukrainian and a Russian could leave the room cold.

Energy crisis: Two traditional Berlin candy makers live close to the edge

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A feature story by Lisa Maria Krause

Amid all the crises of today, Hjalmar Stecher and Katja Kolbe, founders of the Bonbonmacherei in Berlin, had to raise their prices in a shorter time frame than usual. (Krause)

Slowly, the machine turns the red sugar dough into raspberry drops. Hjalmar Stecher, owner of the Bonbonmacherei in Berlin, cranks the machine by hand, while explaining his work to the onlookers. “The candy has to be coated in powdered sugar, when it’s still hot,” he says. Most of the machines, the two-person business owns, are about 100 years old. The more “modern” ones are around 70 or 80 years old, Stecher recalls. Because of this, the shop’s energy bill has always been relatively low. Yet, the energy crisis has hit the Bonbonmacherei at Heckmannhöfe through other channels.

Sugar, flavored syrup, and water is all Stecher and his partner, Katja Kolbe, need to produce an abundance of different hard candy. Raspberry, caramel, or licorice? What brings most costumers back into the shop, located in the basement with entrance through the courtyard, are the signature recipes. They originate in Berlin. Most Berliners would recognize the taste of “Berliner Blätter” from other wood-ruff flavored candy any day. “We couldn’t keep the name Maiblätter,” Stecher explains. Another manufacturer has patented the widely recognized name for the leaf-shaped candy.

The prices for the few ingredients they need have risen drastically, influenced by the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s war on Ukraine. Propelled energy prizes result in higher production costs for ingredients. “Licorice salt suddenly costs 200 percent more. Glucose syrup, too,” states Kolbe from behind the counter. Their wholesale traders charge energy and delivery fees on top of that. Due to delivery problems, those fees have persisted since the start of the pandemic.”Luckily, we only need small quantities,” Kolbe, who is co-founder of the Bonbonmacherei, explains. Last time they had to order a new charge of syrup was in the beginning of 2022. But the two-person business cannot rely on a fixed price.

They never know when or how much for the prize paid they will actually get, Kolbe notes. Because of their infrequent ingredient restocking, the prize hike is delayed. The woman describes the prizes super markets set these days as “horror”. If these are the real prices for sugar that candy makers will have to pay on their next order, the increase could have a big impact on small businesses.

The candy makers raised their own prizes twice in one year. From originally 2,25 euro until January 2022 to 2,50 euro in October per 100 grams of candy. This equals a price increase of eleven percent. “This is unusual within a short time frame,” Kolbe admits. But she cites personal extra expenses as the reason. The candy maker explains how they have always lived “knapp vor Kante”, meaning with little extra money to spare. The two don’t have much leeway, when the energy crisis and inflation influence their living expanses.

That those effects also trouble their customers, the two sweets producers mostly see it with walk-ins rather than returning customers. Their hard candy is a small treat one can still afford, Kolbe believes. Most of their patrons know what they want and stick with it.

The shop, located in the basement at Heckmannhöfe, has become an insider tip for tourists. They offer free demonstrations of their craft. (Krause)

Their customers are who keep them afloat through thick and thin. They helped the Bonbonmacherei through difficult times. Ordering with a phone call during the pandemic is one thing, though. The two-person business sells the sweets “from the stove right into the mouth,” how Kolbe explains it. “We never got as many tips as the last three years,” she adds. Not long after this statement a customer tells her to keep the change. “Passt schon,”(That’s alright) he says with a smile.

A young man in a long winter coat comes down the stairs into the shop. After browsing the shelves with different candy packed in small plastic bags for a bit, he turns to the woman behind the counter. “The selection really hasn’t changed in years,” the customer states with a surprised but pleased look. He has visited the store as a little kid with his parents and grandparents long ago, he explains later. How the Bonbonmacherei sticks to the classics, brings back memories for him. Not long after, the young man leaves with a bag full of candy to gift to his family for Christmas.

This is not an unusual occurrence, Kolbe notes. Quite often the love for the traditional Berlin taste transcends generations. She remembers a study on senses she has read before. “Sense of taste and smell is not something you loose. Those are memories that always remain somewhere,” Kolbe recalls.

The couple prides themselves in being the first who offered an open kitchen for candy making. Twice a day they demonstrate their craft, free of charge. Another way the Bonbonmacherei has turned into an insider tip for tourists. The two insist that the brass pot for melting the sugar and water mixture has to be heated over a gas driven flame. Despite this, Kolbe and Stecher have no interest in energy-saving advice.

Next to the vintage machines, the couple also uses old rolls to give the candy its signature shape. (Krause)

“Saving energy for what? Five euros a year?,” the seller retorts. There is no use in it with LED lights everywhere in the shop and barely any more energy to save, both of them believe. And yet, Kolbe reports of several energy saving consultants showing up in their shop. “They all left their business cards here,” she recounts. Consulting firms on energy-saving have reported an increased interest in their services by companies. Some say their number of on-site consultations has doubled.

The two candy makers already had to make some changes in light of the difficult situation over the past few years. Necessity certainly created the need to rethink previous structures. During the height of the pandemic, Kolbe decided to step down as co-owner of the Bonbonmacherei. Now, she is her partner’s employee. This way, she profits off the German statutory health insurance and short-term allowance. As an employee she also received 300 euro in energy prize lump sum by the government last fall. Though, that is but a mere drop in the bucket.

Political answers to the crises of today have been slow and unsteady. Especially small and midsize companies like the Bonbonmacherei seem to be overlooked. After Russia started its war against Ukraine, voices grew calling for support of the biggest energy producers in Germany. In wake of the energy crisis, the main companies driving the economy and offering jobs remained exclusively in focus. The first aid packages provided money to those companies with high energy consumption.

Only recently, attempts of support for smaller businesses have appeared on the federal state level. Despite those businesses being hit by increasing energy bills just as much as low income families. The Berlin senate offered a loan on a reduced rate to all companies and freelancers starting October 2022. This was not an option to Kolbe and Stecher. Barely any businesses took this opportunity, Stephan Schwarz, senator for economy, admitted. Though, he believes most people will be more interested in their grant program. This aid is still in the works and is expected to be implemented early 2023.

“I don’t know, whether this energy aid will apply to small and midsize companies, too. It’s not clear yet,” Kolbe comments, “Obviously, it would be nice.” The senate has yet to release clear directions whether people can apply for the financial aid online or whether companies with low energy costs are even eligible. “The question is, what is realistic? Free energy for everyone would be great, of course,” Stecher notes with a grin. His newest batch, seven kilograms of raspberry candy, is ready to be put on the shelves.

Berlin’s Cold Aid Feels the Heat as Energy Prices Soar

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A feature story by Jennifer Selby

Berliner Stadtmission does not only offer a save and warm place to sleep for the homeless. The visitors also get a warm meal and can take a shower.(Selby)

You see the queue first, snaking around the corner. Then a low thrum of voices: German, Polish, Romanian, some Lithuanian, their speakers silhouetted by their breath. Security guards stand watch as battered suitcases and tattered plastic bags shuffle along their nightly route. Occasionally there is a scuffle. It is 7:45pm.

This is a familiar scene for all those who know Berliner Stadtmission’s emergency overnight shelter on Lehrter Straße, near Berlin’s Hauptbahnhof. Here, every evening people arrive in search of food, shelter, clothing, and medical care.

What people seek above all is warmth. However this year, it is in short supply. As temperatures plummet below zero for the first time this winter, shelters like this one are facing a “perfect storm” of rising energy costs and decreased donations, while demand for support is greater than ever.

“We are seeing demand growing across the city. More and more people are coming,” says Barbara Breuer, a spokesperson for the charity.

Berliner Stadtmission is just one in a network of non-profit organizations scrambling to provide low-threshold, around-the-clock cold aid to the estimated 2000 people facing winter on the streets of Berlin. With over 90 social projects, Berliner Stadtmission is one of the biggest social aid providers in the city.

While costs vary from project to project, the price of heating and running shelters like this one have risen by “up to 50%” from this time last year, according to Barbara. Meanwhile, cost of living pressures mean much-needed donations are at an all-time low. 

“I don’t think that the people giving to us are rich usually, they just want to do something good and help others,” says Barbara. “But if people don’t have money themselves, they can’t give it to anyone else.”

While the Senate has provided some financial relief, it doesn’t cover all the costs, and things like food, counseling and medical care rely solely on donations. According to Barbara, these are the things that make the difference.

“The people that come to us need medical care and counseling. It’s not enough to give them a key and a place to sleep on the floor if you want to get them out of their situation,” says Barbara.

Berliner Stadtmission’s main food supplier, Tafel, which provides food to 400 social facilities, food banks and cold facilities across the city, is also facing unprecedented demand, reporting “more than 100% growth at almost all distribution points”. Tafel themselves are suffering shortages from corporate donors, while they fear energy costs will make a bad situation worse.

“What we will all find very difficult to bear is the price increase that will come in the utility bills,” said Sabine Werth, chairwoman of Tafel, to RBB Inforadio this week. “I’m looking forward to very bad times again.”

The reduction in food donations puts strain on services that are already overstretched. This shelter on Lehrter Straße officially accommodates 125 people, but every night this season they have admitted closer to 160. Some people queue from 3pm to guarantee a space. Latecomers sleep on the cafeteria floor.

“Usually the busy period is between 8-11pm,” says Dasza, 25, a Berliner Stadtmission volunteer, who is shivering despite her thick waterproof jacket. “But on cold nights like this people just keep coming and coming.”

Nevertheless, Dasza explains, they cannot turn anyone away.

“We can’t leave them outside. They might freeze to death,” she says, pointing a gloved hand to a sign that reads: ‘No Drinking, No Drug Use, No Discrimination, No Knives, No Violence’.

“When it’s cold, people are more stressed and more dangerous. Often they are alcoholised, because that’s how they get by. But so long as they follow the rules, they can come in.”

Originally from Russia, Dasza is fluent in five languages. She explains her language skills are invaluable here, where many visitors don’t speak German.

“Many people don’t have documents. We have doctors and counselors here every evening and it doesn’t matter whether you have medical insurance or not.” she says, adding: “We get people here that have nowhere else to go.”

At 8pm, the doors open and the first people trickle through. From a steel kitchen counter, they collect warm potato soup in paper cups and pastries that are still good to eat. The mood thaws. There are smiles and laughter, nods of recognition. Some retreat to their regular spots along thin wooden tables. Wearier guests head straight to a church pew where they can get first in line for a bed to rest before 7am when they will be back out on the streets.

During the day, there are various services in the cold aid network that provide showers and laundry facilities as well as food, hot drinks and shelter. At these places, it is not just homeless people that are contributing to the increase in demand.

“We are seeing more people coming who have a place of residence but are on the poverty line,” says Barbara. “More people visit our hygiene stations towards the end of the month when their bills are due.”

Barbara says they have particularly seen an increase in elderly women at their city stations that provide a free hot lunch. “They have some money – they have their pension – and they used to make it work out, but they just can’t cope with the rising prices.”

Regrettably, they have had to start turning people away.

The situation is exacerbated by volunteer shortages, which drove the charity’s largest shelter by Bahnhof Zoo to drastically reduce its hours last month, on some weekends closing altogether.

Meanwhile, a fire at the air dome homeless shelter in Friedrichshain forced the urgent relocation of some 120 people.

Berliner Stadtmission has been appealing for donations in kind to redress the shortages during this period, especially food, sleeping bags, and warm winter clothing.

As the first cold deaths are reported, The Federal Working Group for Homeless Aid (BAG W) in Germany calls on municipalities to be more actively involved in protecting the homeless from the cold, and to suspend forced evictions during winter.

“The possibilities of emergency response facilities are not endless,” says Werena Rosenke, Managing Director of BAG W. “Now the municipalities are required, but also every single citizen. Together we must pay attention to those who cannot help themselves and have to live without a home or shelter. Every death is one death too many.”

Paper scarps with names and dates next to the Christmas tree commemorate people who didn’t make it.(Selby)

At the Lehrter Straße shelter, they are preparing for Christmas. Origami stars and snowflakes made from old magazines hang from exposed air ducts that line the low basement ceilings. In one corner, a heavily adorned Christmas tree brings some warmth to the room. Above it, there are scraps of A4 paper in yellow, blue and green, scribbled with names – Kathi, Aurel, Sandra, Marcin – and dates: 1980 – 2020; 24.06.2014; May 2021; 02.10.1985 – 03.05.2016.

“They are prayers for people who used to come here,” explains Dasza. “Some of them died in the queue.”

The Hopeful State of Mind of a Syrian Woman

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A feature story by Merve Kartal

Widad Warrak, a Syrian single-parent refugee mother with four children, needed a great deal of resilience as she fled from the Syrian civil war in 2014 and attempted to hold on to geography she never knew. Although she no longer feels the death anxiety experienced during the civil war, she struggles to find a safe place and continue her own business, even after eight years. Still smiling hopefully: “The best things start when you say it’s over,” she said.

duvar, iç mekan, kişi içeren bir resim Açıklama otomatik olarak oluşturulduWidad’s colourful threads in he tailor’s studio give her hope for the future.

Syria has been going through one of the most severe humanitarian crises of modern times. The Syrian Civil War has caused a refugee influx of unprecedented size in Turkey’s history. According to the data published by the Ministry of Interior Presidency of Migration Management of Turkey, the number of Syrians under temporary protection status registered in Turkey was 3 million 764 thousand 193 people as of June 9, 2022. Widad Warrak, 43, born in Aleppo is just one of them.

As of June, 9 – There are 3,764,193 Syrian refugees.

Source: Ministry of Interior Presidency of Migration Management of Turkey

Widad begins to tell me about the journey she embarked on in fear not knowing where they were going with her three children aged three, six, 14 at the time, and her sick mother, 62, by reminding me that journeys don’t always start with joy and inspiration.

Her struggle started at the age of 12 when she was working in many different jobs, from candy coating to the production of hair clips. She says that she separated from her husband, whom she married at the age of 21 because he was a person who was not aware of his responsibilities and did not take care of his family. She describes the moment when the situation in Aleppo started to get difficult day by day and she decided to flee to Turkey.

“I was both afraid and worried when I went to work because I had to take care of my mother and children by myself. Has my house been raided? Someone bombed? My six-year-old son passed away in Syria and my older brother died in the war. The increase in cases of abuse and rape against girls pushed me to decide to protect my family, which is why I left the country.”

From Aleppo, Syria to Ankara, Turkey in 2014

harita içeren bir resim Açıklama otomatik olarak oluşturuldu

At a time when she could not even access basic needs such as water, electricity, food, and she was in a position where life was becoming impossible, she sold the things from her destroyed house and set out for Turkey: “We found someone who would drop us off the Turkish border with the money of the things we sold.”

During the three-day journey, Widad and her family took refuge in Turkey illegally because the borders were closed. They slept in the streets, in mosques, and on benches. A new adventure has just begun with a country she never knew before, a language she never knew to speak, and the family members for whom she is responsible. As for the most difficult moment during the migration: “When my children were hungry, I could not say to them, ‘be a bit more patient, we will eat when we get home’. Because we had no home to go to and no food to eat,” she stated.

ağaç, açık hava, kişi, poz içeren bir resim Açıklama otomatik olarak oluşturulduImage: Widad of private

Her daughter and son 4 months after arriving in Turkey in 2014.

In this process, when I asked Widad, who only talked about her concerns about her children and mother, what her concerns were about herself, “I never thought of myself.” she answered by remembering the past.

Widad’s most difficult time began after she crossed the border. She says that when they crossed the border and travelled to Ankara by different sorts of transportation, almost all their financial resources were over: “With our remaining money, we could only rent a house where we could live. When we reached Ankara, we had only our clothes and a roof over us.”

She had a hard time choosing words to describe her feelings on the first day in Turkey: “I was in pain of losing my little son and big brother, and I had lost all I had been trying to establish with years of effort.” And recurring questions in her mind are, “How will I take care of my children and my mother in a country whose language we do not know and whose people I do not know? Where will we live? Will we have a home? What will happen to my children’s education? What future awaits us?”

When I asked her why she preferred to come to Ankara, “We always heard that living conditions in Ankara were easier,” she said. “We thought that we could get help from each other because we knew that there were more Syrians here.” It happened like that. Over time, they have begun to meet people who can help them. The new people they met have supported them by giving the staff they don’t have at their home.

According to the normal procedure in Turkey, a refugee who has a valid residence permit in Turkey for 5 years, can apply for citizenship. Widad, who has not yet gotten citizenship and has been living in temporary protection status, emphasized that becoming a citizen is not easy, but also talked about how it gives confidence to their children to school with their current identity cards and to benefit from health and security services.

Widad has begun to meet people over time, although not until she arrived in Turkey. Then she had the opportunity to start learning Turkish. She described the moment when she felt comfortable for the first time as the first day she started working as a tailor in her workplace. Widad’s problem with the language barrier and the lack of equivalence which caused her inability to be employed as a nurse, her real profession, is only one of the most common problems of people who had to immigrate. She decides to establish her own tailor’s studio in Turkey because Syrian people have been forced to work for longer periods for lower wages.

According to the data of the General Directorate of Migration Management, 31% of Syrians have a work permit, at least half of which have established their own company. Widad is among the Syrians who started their own business. First, she set up two sewing machines in her own house and started to sew and sell clothes.

A short time later, upon the advice of her close friend, she attended the Micro Business Game Training organized for entrepreneur refugees. After understanding the meaning of thinking like an entrepreneur and learning basic accounting principles and main financial tools, she expanded her own business with debt financing and created employment opportunities for 11 refugees. She established good friendships with the people she met during this training.

metin, kişi, iç mekan içeren bir resim Açıklama otomatik olarak oluşturulduWidad was one of the Syrian participants of the Micro Business Game Training.

A study carried out by the Human Development Foundation in 2019 signifies the importance of the entrepreneurship pathway for the improvement of the Syrian community’s welfare within Turkey. Widad sets out on this path to take care of her family and improve her quality of life. But before she could fully experience the comfort of the time when she signed with some textile companies in Turkey and started to expand her business, the pandemic has begun. Last month she thought gained momentum with the end of the restrictions, but she had to take a break from her work due to the license problem.

In Turkey, where living conditions are getting harder day by day due to economic reasons, difficulties have come one after another just when things started picking up country. On the one hand, she has continued to struggle with finding a home again. When I ask why it’s a problem, we talked about prejudices and discrimination in the country. “We know a lot of people who say we shouldn’t be here. Once, the residents collected signatures and forced us to move out of our apartment. They started insulting my children, then criticizing the way I dress.” Both economic conditions and discrimination against them made the process of finding an apartment difficult. On the other hand, she can’t help but think about how she will pay her rental fee and bills.

Although she has been saying that she has struggled with different difficulties in both countries, she describes the best thing Turkey taught her as:

“There is always hope. Being able to meet good people even under hard conditions makes you have that hope. Because there are people who want to support you on a journey where you lost everything and started from scratch. This is a sign that there is still hope for all of us.”

Apart from Ankara, she visited Izmir, Istanbul, and Mersin as well. I ask what surprised her the most in Turkey, “We were very surprised that Turkey is such a beautiful and organized country. The nature of Turkey is so beautiful, I was amazed.” answered she.

When she looked back at Syria long after her migration, she realized that an environment that respected human dignity has not been presented to people there. While saying that the opportunities in Turkey make the lives of citizens easier, she gives examples of infrastructure and health services necessary for life. She defines the only beauty of being in Syria as being able to express herself and communicate in her mother tongue.

She has not been planning to return to Syria anytime soon. According to her, the war will not end in a short time, and its effects will take a long time to pass. “I am trying to establish an order for my family here, to provide a future for my children, I cannot leave these things and go back to a ruined order,” said Widad.

Asked what she misses most about home, she answers in her tiny voice: “The smell of its soil.”

She hopes to produce and sell in her tailor studio, without debt to anyone in a short while.  She dreams of expanding her business and seeing the fruits of her labour for her children.

kişi, iç mekan, cihaz içeren bir resim Açıklama otomatik olarak oluşturulduWidad hopes to produce and sell again in her tailor studio.

She has a dream of there being no war, there is no evil, and humanity living in solidarity and peace. “The world has gotten so bad that I dream of having people you can trust, a sincere smile, a disinterested helping hand, in short, being able to trust the world again.”

Asked if she has hope, “There is always hope,” she said and added

“DON’T DESPAIR, ONLY LOOK BACK TO LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES. THE BEST THINGS START WHEN YOU SAY IT’S OVER.”

This story was originally published at Merve’s personal blog:

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The Power Of Acceptance

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A feature story by Savita Joshi 

How two people from two different cultures built a life revolved around love and acceptance.

Maya and Gary at their second wedding celebration (the one their friends threw for them after their first spontaneous ceremony) 

It was a bright, crisp morning in 1978, and the sunlight slanted through the windows of Maya and Gary’s Oakland home, illuminating the richness of its many wooden cabinets and stairs. It was in those early morning hours that a comfortable stillness could be felt in the rooms and hallways. This sense of quiet would soon dissipate when Maya and her sister Mira were both awake and had fallen into their comfortable rhythm of bickering and nagging, which for them was the ultimate gesture of love. It’s not completely clear what inspired Maya and Gary that morning, but the couple awoke in the bed that they shared together and decided that it was the day they were going to get married.

My great aunt and uncle are two of the most practical people you will ever encounter. They eat the same nutritional breakfast every morning of fruit and yogurt (prepared by Gary), and they attend yoga classes together to maintain their flexibility into their old age. When I was twelve and they dropped me off at summer camp, forlorn and extremely homesick, Maya could not understand my sadness. How could I be so glum when I was going to an island for three weeks to play and have fun? Why was I acting like I would never see my parents again? For a woman who had left her country at a young age, saying goodbye to all she had ever known, I can understand how my teenage American angst seemed unreasonable to her. Her favorite thing to tell me, back then and sometimes now, is how she was so broke when she first immigrated here that she couldn’t ride the bus and get ice cream in the same week. And I bet you can guess which decision she made. 

Maya and Family (Maya on the left)

It was this practicality that led to Maya and Gary’s small and sensible wedding, which took place in the family room. Only seven people were in attendance, which is one of the drawbacks to planning and throwing your wedding on the same day. But for Maya and Gary it was perfect. Their close friend, who was a Lutheran minister, married the two of them later in the evening. It was a very casual affair, not at all like the Western or Indian weddings that Maya and Gary were used to. “We didn’t even take pictures!”, says Maya. “We didn’t own a camera back then.” 

Maya and Gary were born in two different countries, to two very different families. Maya in Mumbai, India, surrounded by banyan and mango trees, to a family of eight. Gary in sunny Palo Alto, California, to a family of six. The two grew up in very different environments, but in 1968 they both found themselves on the same continent, in the same town to be exact. It was at the University of California Berkeley where their two contrasting paths crossed. 

What came to follow could easily be romanticized, two people from different cultures who found their soulmates in a way that neither of them could have dreamt of. However, Gary and Maya’s story is not a fairy tale, at least not in their eyes. Instead it is a story that is deeply rooted in the tangible, in patience and commitment, and in a strong devotion to family. Although their love defies boundaries of race and culture, they don’t see this as something special. This is because according to them, they are just two people who fell in love and continually decided to put love first.

I can attest to the fact that having a loving and supportive family, especially one that is open-minded, makes dealing with societal standards and expectations much easier. Luckily, both Maya and Gary were blessed with families like this. Maya’s parents, my great grandparents, were very forward-thinking for their time. As freedom fighters, who were a part of Gandhi’s movement (we even have letters written between my great grandfather and Ghandi), they were accepting and progressive. They would even let my grandmother and her sisters have boys over to the house, which was not that norm for that time. They pushed their children to leave India, see the world, and fully immerse themselves in new cultures. 

Maya’s parents (my great grandparents)

Part of this immersion was befriending and, in Maya’s case, dating people that were different from her. “My father taught us that a good relationship is more about the partners themselves, not the cultures that they come from.” While Gary’s parents were not quite freedom fighters, they did not let their preconceived notions of race and culture get in the way of their connection to their son. “They expected me to marry a white person, so they were a little bit surprised, but they always trusted my judgment.”

Maybe it was the fact that their love was born out of a progressive and accepting place like Berkeley, or maybe it was just luck, but Maya and Gary were able to navigate their many years together without experiencing much discrimination or harassment. Besides the odd neighbor who didn’t like the look of a white man moving into the house next door with two brown women (Maya and her sister), or the people in small towns who gave them strange looks during their cross-country road trips, they didn’t face much bigotry. I believe that it is this lack of adversity and hatred that has helped them cultivate such a deep and resilient bond.

Marrying into an Indian family meant that Gary was suddenly surrounded by a large extended family, which was very different from his small nuclear American family. “My family was close, but we didn’t want to bother each other. On the other hand, Maya and her siblings call each other every day. That’s how they show their care for each other.” I can see vividly what Gary is referring to here. Whenever I would stay with them during the summers, I would often come downstairs in the morning to be greeted by one of my other great aunts or uncles via Maya’s phone. And despite the many technical difficulties they have, which were most obvious during 2020 when we had numerous zoom birthday gatherings, they keep in touch even though they are miles and sometimes oceans apart. 

Maya (left) and her three sisters, Mira, Rekha, and Sheela

While Maya brought a tight knit family structure into Gary’s life, Gary provided Maya with a partnership that was different from what most Indian men could offer her. “I always knew that I didn’t want to marry an Indian guy”, recalls Maya. “I knew that I was different from other Indian women. I wouldn’t bend to cultural or familial restrictions.” This statement could not be more true. Maya is an extremely embodied, fiery, and often quite loud (and I mean this in the best way) woman who is guaranteed to chat your ear off. I have always been inspired by how confident and genuinely herself she is, and I cannot imagine her playing the role of a traditional dutiful Indian wife. By choosing Gary, Maya was able to maintain a sense of autonomy and freedom throughout her marriage.

Maya and Gary Skiing

For many American families, Christmas is the biggest holiday. However, for my family, our most important holiday has always been Thanksgiving. It is on Thanksgiving that everyone gets together to eat, drink, and be very very loud. Even before my time, Thanksgiving was an important moment where Maya and Gary’s two cultures and two families came together to share space. It was a true melting pot, as the Indian guests (who were vegetarian and therefore didn’t eat turkey)  would bring dishes of their own to be eaten alongside the more traditional Thanksgiving food. “We would have up to 50 people at our Thanksgiving for many years, and that was where the cultures blended”, remembers Maya. To this day there are often Indian side dishes accompanying the turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. 

Maya and Gary’s family grew in 1985 when they adopted their son Ethan. Having battled breast cancer and undergone numerous rounds of chemotherapy, Maya was unable to have children of her own, and so they decided to adopt. Once Ethan arrived on the scene, Maya and Gary were even more cemented together, through their dedication to their son. “We knew that we couldn’t be the best parents on our own, that we needed each other”, says Maya. “We knew we needed to be strong for him”. The presence of their son (who in many family photos can be easily spotted due to his prominent bowl-cut and thick round glasses) acted as a sort of anchor for the couple, keeping them upright and steadfast. 

Maya, Gary, and Ethan

I know that it seems a bit cheesy, but as a millennial who grew up with divorce being not only accepted but normal, I had to ask the question: What is your secret to a long lasting and strong relationship? “Tolerance, allowing space, and accepting the other person”, says Maya. “Everyone has an idea of their partner in their head, and usually at some point they realize that they are different from that image. If you can accept the person as they are, then life gets easier and this strengthens your relationship.” For Gary, it’s also about the give-and-take between the two of them. “We depend on each other in different ways. Maya does so much for us. She handles all the money, all the problems with our credit cards, orders our medicines, things like that. And I make her tea in the morning. So it’s sort of an even trade”, he jokes. But in all seriousness, you can sense that the two of them have found a rhythm in their lives that is smooth and steady.

This isn’t to say that Maya and Gary don’t bicker. They snap at each other sometimes, I mean after 44 years of companionship to not have conflict would feel more like a problem than a gift. But I have always been amazed by their ability to ride the waves of their emotions together, always coming back to the love and stability that they share. 

Maya and Gary cutting their wedding cake

The only complaint that Maya currently has about her relationship is that Gary doesn’t like to play boardgames with her. “He doesn’t want to play games with me because he always wants to win. If I lose I don’t have a problem because I know I can always win again another time but he throws a fit if he loses”. However, even these words, which were the only negative ones that she said about Gary during our interview, were said with a smile, a laugh, and a look of mischief in her eyes. 

Career Advice With Michaela Krause

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An interview by Walter Kemp Bruce

Walking into Michaela Krause’s offices in Mitte, Berlin, is quite impressive. A buzzer door leads off a beautiful archway, up four flights of stairs and into an open space where young professionals are busy working at Macbooks. Around the furniture you can see a collection of different products associated with Michaela’s public relations company, Laika Communications. Among them are harnesses and other contraptions designed specifically for dogs. The fact Michaela’s company chooses to work with these particular products is unsurprising given that Laika Communications is named after Laika the dog – the first animal to do an orbital spaceflight around Earth – and because you’ll often find a cute dog trotting around the office. 

Laika Communications is a very forward looking, modern PR company, and have worked with Snapchat, Twitch, Soundcloud and other huge names in the digital space. Michaela, as founder and CEO, has guided this company since it was created in 2018 and according to Linkedin, it already has 25 employees. 

But I’m here to discuss a particular subject with Michaela: I want to find out what guidance she might have for young people who, like me, are at the very beginning of their professional journey. Although she has already worked in different companies and in several industries, Michaela is a young person herself, and seems quite close to me in age (I do maintain a sense of British etiquette that prevents me from asking someone how old they are in exact terms). I hope this article might help to bridge the gap between my generation and our typical sources of career advice: people our parents’ age. 

Right off the bat, Michaela responds to my questions with total clarity: “You need to go out and try different things.” (I had asked her about the challenge of finding the right career, and how lost so many of us seem to be.) “I was lucky enough to do internships in three different fields in the time I was studying, and it allowed me to try my hand at different responsibilities and different industries. That really helped me to figure out what I liked and what I was good at,” Michaela explains. She is adamant that this is as relevant now as it has ever been. “Even in the digital age, there is only so much you can learn from trying out and observing, or looking stuff up. At some point you have to go out and do,” she says. Her last comments on this topic really hit home: “If you’re at the first stage, don’t let yourself get caught up in the insecurity that you might choose the wrong path that defines your whole career. That could stop you from taking opportunities. The truth is you’ve got so much time at this stage to explore, change and switch tack. People are often far too young when they start worrying about what’s exactly THE right job for them.” 

As an employer of young people herself, I ask Michaela what stands out to her about a promising applicant. “I like to see that someone has a firm idea of what they are curious to learn, as well as telling me what they bring to the table,” she says. She takes a second to think about this before continuing. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s important to have confidence in your skills, but I like to hire applicants I can help grow, and who want to gain new skills working with me, rather than people who consider themselves the full package already. Because I believe we never stop learning and that’s the attitude I want to see in someone” Michaela explains that the personal value of helping someone grow and develop as an employee is a great part of the work that she does. I’m sure staff at Laika also appreciate that they’re not expected to arrive as a finished product and will eventually leave with new skills and abilities. 

But what about very talented people, who have a particularly well honed area of expertise? Well, according to Michaela this could be cause for concern. “Sometimes, people with special abilities can fall into a trap,” she says, “because they end up developing that ability beyond all their other responsibilities.” For example, in her industry, Michaela explains that someone with an amazing knack for content creation could neglect their knowledge of brand strategy. More to the point, “in any industry, everyone wants someone who is a really competent, well-rounded colleague, who can pitch in and help out where needs be. It’s great to feel like you’re working with people who have that agility,” Michaela says. But this point goes even further: “Something that people don’t realise is that specific abilities can basically dip in and out of fashion. If you want true job security, it’s great to become invaluable to your industry without getting trapped in a particular niche. Being open to change and learning new things is the real hidden talent,” she says. 

Lastly, Michaela stresses the continuing relevance of the age-old principle of acuity: build good relationships. Michaela suggests this principle might even be grounds for going offline in the post-Covid world: “Y’know it’s always great if you can meet face to face. Even just because it’s a gesture which shows your level of interest and commitment. But generally, it’s just great to build lasting relationships with people, and put in effort to make it clear those relationships are important to you.” She goes on to say that developing good relationships in your career is about genuinely caring about people for their sake, and not thinking about what you can get from them. Maintaining positivity and kindness is a huge advantage professionally, not a weakness, she explains. 

For such a drastically changing planet, it’s surprising to me how much of Michaela’s advice could relate to previous generations. It strikes me that, in a certain way, developing a great career runs parallel to growing as an individual. Many of the skills and strategies outlined by Michaela reflect deeper facts about our personalities – we often think about what we can add before what we can learn, we can overspecialize when we find our talents and tastes, and we can sometimes allow our relationships with others to suffer in service of ourselves. For this reason, I think Michaela’s advice might be as helpful to developing personally as it is to developing yourself professionally. All the more reason to take her words seriously. 

Berlin For Latin American Artists

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A video feature by Alejandro Sandoval Bertín, MA student in Digital Journalism at HMKW. The video was produced as part of the Culture&Entertainment course taught by Prof. Dr Tong-Jin Smith.

It aims to illustrate the life of Latin American artists living in Berlin. The artists were Marcelo Castellani, Fernando Zapata, Irwin Bruno.

Click the link below to watch the full video:

Wandel Lab 2022 – Storytelling as an act of Resistance

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By Maria Chotou

In response to the planetary emergency, activists, filmmakers, and storytellers clashed their visions over how we could produce co-creative spaces at the Wandel lab festival in Berlin. A weekend of action workshops, open spaces, art, and culture around social change took place at Atelier Gardens on the 3-6th of June. 

Among the many talks that Wandel Lab hosted, one of them was coordinated by Berlin-based filmmakers (Green Twenties) and students from MA in Visual and Media Anthropology at HMKW. ‘Storytelling as an act of Resistance: Artistic Intervention and Impact on the Planetary Emergency’ was the title of the roundtable discussion. The workshop included stimulus material, research findings, presentations, and insights from a range of current and recent projects that respond to the environmental crisis and provide an opportunity for activists and storytellers to network and discuss

The workshop aimed to brainstorm around how can stories transition from awareness building to action and how can creators be more targeted with modality and distribution of stories to gain maximum impact. 

‘We need to think of the output and how to imagine sustainable futures, but also how to bring them out’ says Blake Paul Kendall, lecturer at HMKW and coordinator of the discussion. 

Participants from HMKW were students: Elke Hautala, Hauxita Jergeschew, Melissa Blythe Knowles, Yusuf Ölmez,, and Mamo Akefetey. Others: Pavel Borecký (AnthroPictures / University of Bern) and Leonard Leesch (Green Twenties)

Short interview with Yusuf Ölmez,

Yusuf is a director, screenwriter, and producer.

His master’s in Visual and Media Anthropology at HMKW has allowed him to explore his artistic research through photography and ethnographic films. 

“The program is a key for me to dwell more into the non-fiction forms of storytelling and ethnofiction. This means that it allowed me to explore the field of visual anthropology that opened up a space that combines my profession of filmmaking with another research-based perspective.” Yusuf says.

Interview: 

  1. What ‘stimulus material’ did you present at the roundtable discussion for Wandel Lab 2022?

I presented a short documentary that I made as part of our effort in the Environmental Anthropology course. It was a collective story that is shaped by the interview that I made with my participant, Remzi Oguz Gunaydin, about his approach to planetary emergencies. I also experimented with the codes of poetic cinema to question this critical situation from an alternative and emotional perspective.

  1. In your opinion, how can documentaries make a positive impact on society, especially when filmmakers collaborate with activists and anthropologists? 

Activist documentaries of this kind have the potential of creating empathy, dialogue, and emotional stimuli. I think this can make it a bit different from research-based mediums which are also contributing a positive impact on society. Artistic research can be a method of abstraction to enrich and diversify the possibilities of other fields which strengthens the diversity of the contributions with other fields.

  1. How can storytellers/filmmakers contribute to the transition into sustainable futures?

There are a lot of ways to be part of this but I’d like to share my own experience. Raising an alternative voice of protest and awareness is one of the greatest possibilities that art allows us. When I think about this, I also remember how some poems, like the works of Nazim Hikmet, enriched my inspiration about resistance differently. Cinema and other mediums of artistic research can have the same.

  1. Do you have any advice for young filmmakers out there or any advice you would like to give on cinematography?

I do not see myself as a person to give advice but for the sake of this valuable question and my dedication to sharing personal experiences, I would say following my intuitions and intellectual pursuit with my lens and ear allows me to have conversations with more people through the works of image and sound that I create. I try to experiment and investigate my questions in this way. This creative process makes me engaged with the participants and audience through my camera.

You can view Yusuf’s short film presented at Wandel Lab 2022 by clicking the link below: 

Check out the trailers that Yusuf produced for two of his fiction films:

What Kind of Digital Society We Want to Live In

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by Maria Chotou

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re:publica is the largest conference about digital culture in Europe. It was founded in 2007 as a small-scale meeting for digital creators and today marks a wide-ranging conference of digital culture representatives. During a three-day festival in Berlin, artists, activists, scientists, entrepreneurs, NGOs, journalists, scholars, and social media experts converge to share knowledge. 

Arena Berlin and Festsaal Kreuzberg hosted for the first time re:publica22 on the 8th-10th of June. The reconnection with the community was an absolute thrill after the two years of the covid19 pandemic and the online execution of the festival. The Glashaus, the Arena Club, the Flutgraben, the Hoppetosse, and the Badeschiff – including beach areas – were also used as exhibition spaces.

This year’s digital conference focused on acute social, digital, and political grievances in the face of several crises: the climate crisis, Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the Corona crisis, and the fight against hatred and agitation on the web.

Anyone who has ever attended re:publica knows that the festival always ends with the celebratory and collective singing of Queen’s “Bohemian Rapsody”. With over 400 workshops and programs on ten indoor and outdoor stages and more than 700 invited speakers, re:publica22 opened this year’s ceremony with the last line of the same song: “Any Way The Wind Blows”. Since these were the last words spoken at the pre-pandemic get-together of re:publica19. “Never again war” – the performance by Tocotronic marked the end of re:publica22 in the year of the war against Ukraine. 

The main takeaways from re:publica22

A series of discussions and lectures explored the question of what kind of digital society we want to live in and how we can shape it together. 

The major debates of our time around climate, the war in Ukraine, and Corona were discussed, as well as technological evolutions and advancements such as Metaverse, the Web3, NFTs, and artificial intelligence, and their economic and social impact.

This year’s focus also included civil society strategies for combating disinformation, ways to curb hate on the web, and new ways of limiting the power of large tech companies through platform regulation.

The German writer, Sascha Lobo, in his talk “Any Way the Wind Blows,” reflected on current social developments while keeping a close eye on the media, politics, and the audience. Bringing together digitization, globalization, and moralization, he invoked the power of the network, but also the dangers of Alexa and China’s TikTok. 

Marina Weisband, a German-Ukrainian journalist and activist, raised a critical voice – virtually connected – in an appeal to the audience about German hesitation and reaction to the Ukraine war. ‘Democratic states need to stick together now more than ever’ she said.

Olaf Scholz was the first German Chancellor to take part in the event. The German Chancellor from SPD, during his visit at re:publica, described the war in Ukraine as a turning point “because a single country, Russia, is breaking international law in the most brutal way with the power of its military apparatus and without any cause.”

All talks have been published online on re:publica2022 Youtube Channel: 

Volunteering for re:publica22 

Each year, re:publica is also accompanied by a group of volunteers. This is a great opportunity for those who are unsure whether to attend or cannot afford the relatively expensive ticket for this big conference. The tasks usually involve mainly press crediting and ticket checking. 

Students in HMKW’s master’s program in Digital Journalism also volunteered and gained insights from the conference. As a volunteer, I was mostly occupied with tasks related to the standard ticket stands, with plenty of time, however, to wander around the conference and explore the different stations.

There is a Facebook group that is been updated and all people are welcome to register for the next conference as volunteers. 

A flashback to 2019 

The re:publica19 newsroom was run by a student team from HMKW Berlin headed by Prof. Dr. Ranty Islam and operated by the Department of Journalism and Communication. As “Shifted News”, the students of the master’s program Convergent Journalism reported live and multimedia on behalf of re:publica. They were also supported by the teachers at the HMKW Jost Listemann, Sarah Meister, and Daniel Lehmann, and students from the design department.

As part of the HMKW MediaLab, a combination of teaching editing and multimedia newsroom, the group was able to prepare for the tasks. This was a unique opportunity for the students to use the skills they have learned during their studies in a live context at an event of this dimension.

Click below to view HMKW’s participation in re:publica: 

Here are some photographs from re:publica22:

The Interdisciplinary Nature Of The Humboldt Forum

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A feature by Maria Chotou

What do Berlin and Intelligence have in common? Τhe answer may be revealed in the essence of interdisciplinarity that inheres on the first floor of the Humboldt Forum.

Two exhibitions that are currently taking place at the Humboldt Forum, Berlin Global and After Nature, mark an encounter between culture and technology. The two are inextricably bound with the involvement of experts from various fields of science, artists and Berlin-based initiatives in both exhibitions. A cultural-scientific dialogue is fostered by the Stadtmuseum behind Berlin Global and the Cluster of Intelligence behind part of After Nature.

A Multiplicity of voices 

In July of 2021, the Berlin Global exhibition opened its doors to visitors with seven diverse themes: revolution, free space, boundaries, entertainment, war, fashion and interconnection. “The exhibition Berlin Global combines an interdisciplinary representation of the city’s history and culture, but also offers a unique participatory experience of interacting with this history using multimedia technology,” says Karsten Grebe, press spokesperson for the Stadtmuseum Berlin. The Stadtmuseum Berlin has been in charge of the communication for the Berlin Global exhibition since its opening.

The exhibition embraces the fact that there is not just one ostensibly objective presentation of history, but rather many histories. A team of political scientists, historians, communication scientists, musicologists, and gender studies scholars have been working to achieve this goal.

On account of such involvements, visitors have the chance to come across aspects of the multifaceted Berlin, reflect and construct their own views through a participatory experience and interactive technologies. Visitors choose a path when going from one station to another. And at the end of the exhibition, they receive a summary of their input and decisions, enabling them to challenge further their critical view and recognise the multitude of diverse opinions from other visitors. 

The possibilities of interactivity in the museum are so open-ended that their conceptualization and design are what make the experience special. Touch, feel, critique, and create, but, most importantly, be asked questions. 

Grappling with colonialism

Going back now to the museum’s view, the heterogeneity of its contents can already be seen on its façade. A merge of modern architecture with baroque construction. 

The new museum stands on the site of the demolished East German parliament building alongside Berlin’s Cathedral and has been dubbed one of the largest cultural developments in Europe in recent years. The Berlin palace was damaged during WWII. It was demolished and replaced by the Palace of the Republic, which housed the parliament of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). 

The decision to rebuild the baroque Berlin palace, which is now forming the Humboldt forum, has been undoubtedly a controversial topic. Inhabitants of Berlin have been debating about the reconstruction of a royal palace, which has associations with Prussia and the monarchy, and the Forum’s intention to host non-European cultural themes. 

The Humboldt forum was built and its content, rather surprisingly, challenges and advocates a new way of acknowledgement and discussion around the colonial past. 

“The Berlin Global exhibition seeks to engage critically with the history of Berlin and Germany. What underlines the whole concept is a critical view on the colonial structures of power in the present,” Karsten Grebe says. 

In fact, there are plenty of examples in the exhibition that show gestures of openness and dialogue, but also recognition of the past. The exhibition opens up with an art piece by duo artists How & Nosm that depicts the history of European world views and exploitation since the early modern age. The topic of colonialism is also found in the station “Boundaries” and “War” where they address the invisibility of Germany’s colonial past in the country’s culture of remembrance and call upon political leaders and the public to take a new look at colonialism.

The performative work produced by contemporary artist Philip Kojo Metz called SORRY FOR NOTHING takes place in the “War” room and points out the German silence regarding the country’s colonial past. It is one of the main works at the exhibition that highlights this new stance of the forum to challenge the past. 

From the exploration of Berlin’s society to what intelligence is 

As we progress through the interactive wanderings of the Berlin Global exhibition and gather a sense of the museum from the outside, we are transported to a different room on the first floor. The After Nature exhibition room has a similar design with the rain of matrix and installations that challenge our sense of human existence. Large floodlights hang from the ceiling and hold glass boxes exposing all sorts of objects from history. The exhibition, however, begins with an emphasis on sustainability and a reference to the human mind. The Cluster of Intelligence in Berlin curated part of the After Nature exhibition and exhibited precious findings from their work. 

“Members from different subject areas such as robotics, biology, and philosophy work together towards an interdisciplinary understanding of intelligence. The aim is to identify general principles of intelligence as well as technological applications that make use of these principles’’ says Prof. Dr Jens Krause, a scientist at Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries. Prof. Dr Krause’s research is part of the behavioural biology component of the Science of intelligence cluster.

A prominent part of the After Nature exhibition highlights our connection with the natural ecosystems. The exhibition starts with a massive installation of moving fishes, that just like humans, move around in swarms. Our collective actions and decisions have consequences for others. This is the power of collectivity. 

The science of intelligence cluster is a joint cluster of excellence of the Technische Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität in Berlin. This interdisciplinary outlet focuses on research about collective intelligence and presents an experimental setting of RobFish at the After Nature exhibition. 

One of the glass boxes mentioned above hosts the RobFish. Visitors of the exhibition come closer to a little robotic fish which is placed in a real-life simulation environment and through interactive technology tries out behaviours in a collective concept with other simulations of fishes. 

The robotic fish is anticipating the behaviours of its conspecifics and the aim of the experiments is to use such insights for improving collective robotics.

Why collective intelligence matters

Studying how humans or animals process information and make decisions collectively can identify new principles based on which experts can address important problems in society. The study of anticipatory strategies and social responsiveness with AI models is at the core of current research by the cluster of intelligence regarding collective intelligence. 

“Some of the mathematical models which are inspired by social decision making in animals were capable of providing algorithms for cancer diagnosis which are better than the human doctor,” says Prof. Dr Krause. 

“Collective Intelligence is the ability of a group of animals or humans to make better decisions than a single individual could. An important prerequisite is that individuals independently gather information from their environment. This information is processed through social interaction and leads to the solution of cognitive problems that single individuals cannot solve in this way,” he continues. 

The interdisciplinarity behind the exhibitions

The After Nature exhibition belongs to a part of the Humboldt Lab within the Humboldt forum, which aims to make science more accessible, bringing experimental work such as the RobFish closer to people. The Humboldt Lab is a great place to show visitors what goes on in the excellence cluster in Berlin and illustrate how interdisciplinarity, even in the most complex scientific fields, is necessary. 

“The Humboldt Lab is a place for science communication and we look forward to creating more content in the future,” says Prof. Dr Krause 

From Berlin Global to After Nature, it makes perfect sense to believe that all fields of life are interconnected. From culture to science and art to technology. The Humboldt Forum in Berlin at last is offering the space to experiment with those connections. 

The city derives intelligence and intelligence derives the city.

If you want to learn more about the ongoing exhibitions, please click the links below: 

Berlin Ausstellung im Humboldt Forum

https://www.humboldtforum.org/de/programm/daueranghttps://www.humboldtforum.org/en/programm/dauerangebot/exhibition/after-nature-16464/ebot/ausstellung/nach-der-natur-14144/

All photographs were taken by Maria Chotou.