Young Berliners In Political Dialog

Fleeing, exile, and the question of "home" are not just themes belonging to the past but are still highly relevant and the subject of heated debate today.

Entrants to the competition "Jugend debattiert" (Young people debate) from Berlin will discuss questions of migration, integration, and identity with Maria Böhmer, Federal Government Commissioner for Integration, Migration, and Refugees, Christoph Bergner, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of the Interior, and Michael W. Blumenthal, Director, Jewish Museum Berlin.

The Jewish Museum Berlin and the not-for-profit Hertie Foundation invite you to this panel discussion, led by the journalist Dorothee Nolte ("Der Tagesspiegel"), in January 2007.

How does fleeing feature in the global context today? What induces people to leave their home countries and where do they flee to? Which opportunities and difficulties are created by the integration of minorities in a majority society? When do immigrants feel like they have really gained a foothold in our society and see Germany as their home? In the run-up to this event, the sixth-formers will spend three days concentrating on these questions and discussing them with journalists, asylum experts, and artists.

They will meet an employee of UNHCR (The UN Refugee Agency) and talk to Sahira, a rapper of Palestinian-Lebanese origin living in Berlin among others. A further way they approach the theme is by analyzing films such as "Die Judenschublade" by Margarethe Mehring-Fuchs or "Die Entscheider" by Hans-Jürgen Hilgert. Trainers from the Jewish Museum Berlin and from the not-for-profit Hertie Foundation guide the young people in their quest.

The panel event is part of the program surrounding the exhibition "Home and Exile. The Emigration of German Jews after 1933" and is organized by the Jewish Museum in cooperation with the Hertie Foundation.

Following the panel event, a small reception will be held to enable further discussion. Moreover, a visit to the exhibition "Home and Exile. The Emigration of German Jews after 1933" is also possible. The Jewish Museum Berlin is open as every Monday until 10 pm. -- www.juedisches-museum-berlin.de