Project

‘Leaving Places – Shaping Places’ is a German-Polish-Turkish-Israeli student exchange meant to explore exile, migration and places of refuge in the 20th century history. The project aims at highlighting the role of the four participating countries in exile and migration waves in times of ideological persecution. Beyond that, the project looks into the way migrant communities contribute to the development of their ‘receiving’ communities and explores the ways in which they shape multicultural landscapes in the project cities.

The project’s point of departure is Turkey's role for refugees from Nazism, the Allies and German opposition groups during World War II, which opens a less known perspective on Turkey's historical role in Europe within the context of current debates on Turkey’s ‘Europeanness’. Around this focal point, the project will delve into further cornerstone exile and migration waves to and from Germany, Turkey, Poland and Israel in the 20th century.

The measures planned to bring the topic of exile, migration and refuge during the 20th century closer to the participants are:

  1. a student exchange between Kassel University, Wrocław University, Sabanci University and Hebrew University, including seminars, lectures, discussions and visits to key historical sites in Istanbul, Berlin and Wrocław,
  2. a symposium on Turkey's role during WWII, both for groups persecuted by National-Socialism in Central Europe, and for opposition groups working from abroad against National-Socialism. The conference will take place on September 28-30, 2007 in the European Academy Krzyżowa in Poland and brings together 120 participants from academia and civil society.

THE TIMELINE

  • Berlin exchange: 24-26 September, 2007
  • Wrocław exchange: 26-28 September, 2007
  • Krzyżowa symposium: 28-30 September, 2007
  • Istanbul exchange: 26-30 March 2008

With the generous support of the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures and the Robert Bosch Foundation, Stuttgart.