Intercultural Week 2022 Exhibition
When news of the Balkan route broke in the summer of 2015, Germany and the entire continent seemed overwhelmed.
Where did all the people come from who suddenly wanted to come to Europe in this migration movement? How could there have been so many of them all of a sudden, and how were we supposed to manage it at all?
As alarmist as people in the EU reacted, the development was not surprising. The conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq, the de facto closure of the Western Mediterranean route, and the growing numbers from the Balkan route over the last few years had long given observers reason to suspect this development. If Germany and the European Union had had the will, they could have supported the people better and let the events unfold less dramatically. As it was, however, it appeared alternatively and inaccurately like a "wave of refugees," "flood," or "avalanche" - and not like a migration movement of people in need of protection.
With all this excessive demand and fears, it was forgotten that it was not natural phenomena or objects that came to Europe. They were and are human beings. Equipped with the individual human rights with which we all like to see ourselves. Unfortunately, their claim has been violated by the conditions of flight.
The most sensitive ones are children. They are the least able to categorize events, they have the most demanding needs and they take what they have experienced with them the longest and most intensively in their lives. The fact that Europe, as the richest continent, has failed to provide for these most vulnerable and to give them access to protection is a particular shame for the self-proclaimed continent of human rights.
Nevertheless, children have continued to live their childhoods, to play and laugh even while fleeing - it is above all these perspectives that can be captured on camera. The darker sides play out in secret. Both for the camera and for our perception. But we also have to think about these sides when we talk about refugee experiences and then we have to show special sensitivity.
But at the same time we must not forget that children with refugee experiences are not lepers or retards. They are and remain above all one thing: children with inalienable rights.
These pictures were taken between September 2015 and September 2016. Photographer Tim Lüddemann portrayed families and their children on their arduous flight through the Balkan countries.
The exhibition can be seen in the hallways on the first floor during the opening hours of STRAZE.