28 August 2024

Exhibition “Children in Exile” in the Werkstatt Exilmuseum

Opening 6 September, runs until 1 November 2024

The Akademie der Künste is showing the documentary exhibition “Children in Exile” starting on 6 September 2024 in the Werkstatt Exilmuseum on Fasanenstrasse in Berlin’s Charlottenburg district. The exhibition focuses on topics of flight and exile, as experienced by the children of artists including Walter Benjamin, Bertolt Brecht and Helene Weigel, Anna Seghers, Alfred Kerr and George Grosz. Beginning in 1933, these children were forced into exile along with their parents. They had to leave loved ones behind without being able to say goodbye, they felt longing for a beloved pet or toy, and were subject to uncertainty and fear. The challenges that they faced in foreign countries, including making new friends or learning another language, reflect those faced by countless children who are on the run today.

The exhibition shows facsimiles of photographs, letters and manuscripts from the Akademie archives, in particular from the estates of artists who fled abroad to escape the National Socialist regime. Curator Gesine Bey tells the children’s stories in nine chapters, according to the countries of exile: Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Palestine, the Soviet Union, United States and Mexico.

The exhibition was initiated in 2016 by the KUNSTWELTEN educational program and the Archives of the Akademie der Künste; after its first presentation in the Akademie’s building on Hanseatenweg, it was shown in Ueckermünde, Linz, Ludwigshafen, Schwerin and in the Berlin House of Representatives, among other places. Now, in cooperation with Stiftung Exilmuseum, it can be seen in Berlin once more. This marks the beginning of a long-term collaboration between the Stiftung Exilmuseum and the Akademie der Künste, which will encompass the presentation of exhibits on the subject of exile in the Werkstatt Exilmuseum.

The Werkstatt Exilmuseum is a temporary location until the Exilmuseum is built at its future location at Anhalter Bahnhof in coming years. It provides the foundation with a space for exhibition projects and events, for educational work and the participatory development of the future museum – in the process creating a forum for exploring questions on the topic of exile, both past and present.

The exhibition is suitable for children eight years old and older, as well as for adults.

Programme:

Fri, 6 Sept 2024, 7 pm              
Opening and introduction to the exhibition
With Gesine Bey, Werner Heegewaldt, Heike Catherina Mertens, Anh-Linh Ngo

Fri, 20 Sept 2024                     
to mark German World Children’s Day
Morning: Workshops for registered groups with Moritz Nitsche, Kristiane Petersmann and Benjamin Scheuer
Afternoon: 2 – 7 pm, arts and crafts activities and reading, guided tours for families and more

Thu, 17 Oct 2024, 7:30 pm  
Berlin – Portbou. Auf den Spuren Walter Benjamins. Documentary film, D/ES 2021/22, 86 min., Director: Sophie Narr
The film documents the trip by pupils of the Rosa Luxemburg High School to Portbou in 2021. After the screening there will be a discussion with the pupils involved in the film, and Jeanine Meerapfel, Sophie Narr and Erdmut Wizisla.

Further information: www.stiftung-exilmuseum.berlin, www.adk.de/kunstwelten/

Exhibition information:

Children in Exile 
Exhibition
6 Sept. – 1 Nov. 2024
Wed – Fri, 12 – 6 pm, free admission
Werkstatt Exilmuseum, Fasanenstrasse 24, 10719 Berlin

Guided tours:
Thursdays, 5 pm
By special appointment: Guided tours for school classes. Registration at: kunstwelten@adk.de