Migration audio archive

The Migration-Audio-Archiv , in its own notation migration-audio-archiv (maa), is a "collection of audible migration stories - narrated migration history" in Cologne . The radio-quality audio archive, which has been in development since 2004, is gradually documenting authentic immigration stories of migrants of all conceivable nationalities in Germany, preparing them for a general public and making them available in various forms of publication. In 2007, the project's interactive website was nominated for the Grimme Online Award .

Details

According to the archive's self-portrayal, the life stories and narratives deal primarily with “classic labor migration - of ' guest workers ', of exiles , environmental refugees ”. The German education server describes the groups considered in more detail than

Migrant workers (the so-called “guest workers” from southern Europe, Asians in care professions and from the IT industry, holders of the Green Card ...), refugees from war and civil war, political refugees (e.g. after a military coup), economic refugees, refugees for religious reasons , Environmental refugees, immigration from the new EU member states (the largest group of immigrants in recent years comes from Eastern Europe - largely due to the more generous entry conditions due to the ongoing EU expansion, but also still due to evidence of German ancestors), Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, students from all over the world, family reunification (marriage, child reunification, etc.) and exiles (political exile, e.g. from Chile, Argentina, Iran ...).

The audio files reach a length of 15 to 60 minutes and the media WDR on the radio (eg in the series. Living history and shows like the long Hörnacht - Telling migration history ) sent installed at shows and on the Internet (with interactive text and image environment that should make migration “tangible” for the listener).

But it is not just unknown migrants who tell of their immigration to the Federal Republic in the maa: Even more or less prominent people such as the well-known Turkish entrepreneur Kemal Şahin or the current Foreign Minister of Afghanistan have already had their immigration history to Germany in the way described below Archive made available.

Emergence

The idea and concept come from the responsible editor Justus Herrmann and the radio journalist Sefa İnci Suvak , who immigrated from Turkey as a child with her parents , who is also responsible for editing and interviews. In the preliminary talks on the phone and during the subsequent visits, the journalist also talks about herself. This creates trust , describes the journalist's recipe for success in the search for voluntary migrants who are willing to tell their life stories. The interviews are mostly carried out at the immigrants' homes. Already in the summer of 2003 - a year before the audio archive made its first recordings - Suvak had for a six-part WDR series "I thought I'll save myself if I go to Germany" - a generation of guest workers even accounts for Turkish migrant workers, some of them from their own environment recruited a similar documentation. After the success of the show, the journalist from the WDR's in-house magazine asked for a sequel: “(...) such stories should of course appear in the program. You just have to keep in mind that there are over eight million people in Germany who, in addition to their German world, have a second Turkish, Persian, Italian, Spanish ... world. " The creation of the maa, which has worked closely with Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) as a media partner from the start, can also be seen as the first step towards the realization of this idea from 2004 onwards.

From 2004 onwards, the project was funded and supported largely financially by the North Rhine-Westphalian Foundation for Environment and Development . The responsible project management or provider is Exile Kulturkoordination eV

Special format of the audio contributions

From mostly longer interviews and conversations with the migrants or their stories, a continuous flow of narrative exclusively from the immigrant himself is formed in a post-processing, thus condensing his story to the essentials. In this way, after the adaptation of Suvak, only the voices of the migrants can be heard in the final audio contributions - without an audible interviewer. There is also no channeling moderation. Through this directness, the project wants to create an immediacy of the encounter with narration and narrator and facilitate the emotional participation of the listener. Wherever possible, the stories are in German. A smaller proportion of around a quarter is also told in the mother tongue of those affected by migration. The maa points out that “the form and scope are (so far) unique historical sources” and that the archive “will open up an important field in the context of migration, 'oral history', research and journalism”. A dossier from the Goethe Institute reported in 2005 that there was also interest in the project on the part of science.

Grimme nomination

On May 10, 2007 it was announced that the archive's audio web had been nominated for the Grimme Online Award in the "Knowledge and Education" category. In the justification of the Adolf Grimme Institute it said:

“Migration background” is a frequently used catchphrase - but the biographies behind the migration history are usually hidden. The "migration-audio-archiv" is an interactive and continuously growing collection of narrated migration stories. In the tradition of "oral history", this site prepares carefully conducted interviews for a specific web site. The elaborately designed interface also offers associative navigation options and the option to jump to individual topics within the interviews.

future

According to the information on the archive's website, a foundation is to be set up in order to ensure the long-term survival and development of the migration audio archive, secure further publications, expand exhibition and event programs and advance research on migration history in the project .

Web links

• Homepage of the maa
• Grimme-nominated audio web
• WDR reader for the archive series Experienced Stories , November 12, 2006 to December 3, 2006 (PDF file; 768 kB)
• Report on the maa (Goethe-Institut Dossier, November 2005)

swell

1. ↑ State Center for Political Education Baden-Württemberg: Migration and Integration - Links
2. ↑ migration-audio-archiv: start page ( memento of the original from June 4, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (As of May 23, 2007) 
3. ↑ German Education Server: Online Resource 33989
4. ↑ Christina Sticht: “Giving Migrants a Voice” - The migration-audio-archiv lets immigrants talk about their lives, Goethe-Institut Dossier, November 2005
5. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: WDR Print: Interview with Sefa-Inci Suvac - "Guest worker stories have long been kept secret"
6. ↑ migration-audio-archiv: the audio format - the special audio experience ( memento of the original from June 25, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ↑ Grimme Online Award: Nominated 2007 ( Memento of the original from May 19, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.