Year: 2011
Exile Stories XII: Leaving Germany after WWII – Exile in the French Foreign Legion?
Carsten found an unusual exile story, at least if you compare it to those we have already published: When I searched for interview partners for the project, a friend mentioned his great- uncle Adolf K. who went into exil... (more)
Exile Stories XI: “Taking the decision was the most traumatic part” – from Cuba to Spain
Leopoldo is a Cuban exiled, son of Spanish parents exiled in 1936 before the beginning of the war. He was born in la Habana in 1938 and belonged to the upper medium class; when Castro’s revolution started in 1956 he deci... (more)
Exile stories X: Klodian, walking on a bridge between Albania and Italy
The following story is not explicitly an exile story but we learned, that this term is not that easy to define. The person Marica has decided to interview has a long and particular story as a migrant. His name is Klodian... (more)
Exile stories IX: Reburn into a new world
Ondrej from Czech Republic interviewed his uncle to get a story. In my first memories from the early nineties, I remember my uncle with a beard, long curly hair, a permanent cigarette in his mouth and in a leather jacket... (more)
Exile stories VIII: Deportation and Exile, randomly chosen?
Tamara from Slovenia interviewed her grandmother about her experience of deportation during WWII. I was firstly acquainted with the topic of exile when I was a little child, since my grandmother experienced forced exile ... (more)
Exile Stories VII: From Bulgaria into the French Resistance: The life of Milka Genadieva
Kalina from Bulgaria found the person she wanted to write about while talking to a friend: Milka Genadieva was a very privileged young woman, being daughter of the famous Bulgarian politician Nikola Genadiev. Nikola Gena... (more)
I did not see that coming!
The last working day in Madrid was so full of summing up and putting together all the elements of the program that it is on me to write this post. The other missing posts will be published later. The Saturday started wit... (more)
Exile – an eternal story?
Hear this tale as old as time Another soul in exile Young man is standing by the shore He cannot take it anymore The days are looking all the same nothing can take away the pain If from the regime he does not flee He sur... (more)
Exile from the premises
Our quest to explore exile in different contexts went from a macroperspective to a microperspective as we started the fourth day. The first morning block was spent in the company of Mr. Themba Nyathi, the first secretary... (more)
Day 3, part II: Can a person be illegal?
Paloma Fevieres from the Spanish Commission for Refugees (CEAR) gave insight to the situation of asylum seekers in Spain. The NGO she works for provides legal and practical support for people, who managed to reach Spanis... (more)
Around worldwide exile in a day
The third day of the seminar was a very informative one. The day began with a visit from Paloma Favieres, the representative of the Servicio Juridico del Comite Espanol de Ayuda al Refugiando (CEAR) Madrid. After anothe... (more)
“Franco was a serious dictatorship. No bullshit.”
After a well-deserved night of rest we awoke to the second day of the seminar. Today’s agenda was exploring the concept of cultural exile, and what better way to do that than to head off to a place that is closely ... (more)
Exile Stories VI: Madrid – 30 years ago…
On the evening of the 24th of July 2011 20 young Europeans met in Madrid in order to discuss „EXILE” in Europe. But we won’t be the first ones as Laura from Latvia found out: About 30 years ago Madrid had already been a... (more)
Day one under the Madrid sun
After a tiring day of arrivals and thanks to it being a holiday in Spain – The day of Santiago – the first official day of our glorious seminar began a bit later than it will for the rest of the week. In the morni... (more)
Exile stories V: Denationalization, cause of exile.
Having a successful exile is never easy. Katherine interviewed a Kurdish couple that had to leave Syria after being dispossessed of their nationality; they couldn’t be Syrian but neither Kurdish. They live now in Germany... (more)