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An exhibition presented by the Akademie der Künste’s cultural education program KUNSTWELTEN and archive, curator: Gesine Bey; in cooperation with Stiftung Exilmuseum Berlin

Werkstatt Exilmuseum
Fasanenstraße 24, 10719 Berlin

Duration: September 6–November 1, 2024
Opening hours: Wed.–Fri., 12–6 pm
Free admission

Walter Benjamin or Bertolt Brecht, Anna Seghers or Alfred Kerr: many artists and intellectuals who left Germany to flee the Nazis are still famous today, while those who accompanied them into their exile, remain largely unknown: their children.

This exhibition focuses on the exile experience of the children of these and other artists and intellectuals. They were forced to leave behind loved ones without saying goodbye, missed a pet or a certain toy, experienced insecurity and fear. The challenges they experienced abroad, which included making new friendships and learning a new language, were similar to those faced by hundreds of thousands of refugee children today.

In this exhibition, curator Gesine Bey will be using facsimiles of photographs, letters, documents, and manuscripts from the archive of the Akademie der Künste to tell the stories of these children in exile in nine chapters, focusing on the exile countries of Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Palestine, the Soviet Union, the United States, and Mexico.

The exhibition was curated in 2016 by the cultural education program KUNSTWELTEN and the archives of the Akademie der Künste. It is now being presented once again in cooperation with Stiftung Exilmuseum. This will mark the start of a long-term collaboration between Stiftung Exilmuseum and the Berlin Akademie der Künste: precious treasures from the Akademie's archives related to the subject of exile will be presented at Werkstatt Exilmuseum.

The exhibition is designed for adults and children eight and up.
The building is unfortunately not barrier-free.

Auxiliary Program:

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

Friday, Sept. 20, 2024:
For International Children’s Day: an all-day program featuring workshops, tours designed for the whole family, and more.

Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024, 7:30 pm:
Berlin – Portbou: In the footsteps of Walter Benjamin
Documentary (D/ES 2021/22, 86 min, directed by Sophie Narr) about the journey taken by students from Rosa-Luxemburg-Gymnasium in Berlin to Portbou in September 2021. The film screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Jeanine Meerapfel, Sophie Narr, Erdmut Wizisla, and students who took part in the trip and the film project.

Every Thursday, 5 pm:
Guided tour of the exhibition

On request:
Tours for school classes, registration: kunstwelten@adk.de

Further information on the events will follow shortly!

Image: Anja Steckel at the Zurich Zoo, 1943
© Akademie der Künste, Leonard-Steckel-Archiv