Home and Exile (2006)

The exhibition "Home and Exile. Jewish Emigration from Germany since 1933" focuses on the forced exodus of German Jews. It runs from 29th September 2006 to 9th April 2007 in the Jewish Museum Berlin.

ART+COM created a multimedia installation for this exhibition. The interactive exhibit tells the visitors about persecution and preparing for flight, about journeys to an uncertain future and, above all, about beginning anew in a foreign world.

The installation’s interface is a world map from 1939. By turning a rotary knob, the user can choose from more than 80 countries and retrieve information about the selected place of emigration and destinies connected to them. An info ticker reveals facts worth knowing in texts and images to the viewer. It is divulged that the Soviet Union was mainly used as a transit country, for example. The right of asylum for those persecuted because of religion was enshrined in the constitution but not practiced. Residence authorization was only given to communist emigrants.

Up to three users can interact and experience history independently from each other. Each of them can choose to be informed either in German or in English. The exhibit grants a visually attractive access to the stories on difficulties German Jews underwent when they started a new life in a foreign country.

The exhibition will move on to the “Haus der Geschichte” in Bonn on 17th May 2007. Afterwards, it can be seen in the “Forum of Contemporary History” in Leipzig.

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