Between 1964 and 1969, the paths of almost 200 young women, mainly from Turkey, crossed in the Telefunken company women’s dormitory at Stresemannstraße 30 in Berlin: in a building that had, over a hundred years earlier, served as an educational institution for boys including Otto von Bismarck. Among the residents, who worked in piecework assembling radio tube lamps for Telefunken, were die-hard theatre fans who knew Erwin Piscator and Helene Weigel personally. Others had encounters with Rudi Dutschke, whom they found to be quite arrogant, which is why they co-founded the first Turkish socialist association in West Berlin. Many admired Ella Fitzgerald in concert or were horrified to have to come across their screen idol Horst Buchholz as a »beat-up bum«. Some of these pioneers shaped decades of German-Turkish life in Berlin with their socio-political and artistic work. Emine Sevgi Özdamar, who was also working at Telefunken at the time, created a literary monument to the Wonaym with her novel Die Brücke vom Goldenen Horn (The Bridge of the Golden Horn). The exhibition follows the footsteps of Aysel, Filiz, Güneş, İdil, Mefharet, Melek, Mevhibe, Nica, Nuran, and others. Their stories about life, love, work, and resistance are accompanied by a supporting program that builds a bridge to the present day
Researched, compiled, and further collected by Hülya Karcı, Erden Kosova, Tunçay Kulaoğlu, Maral Müdok und Mürtüz Yolcu from works, family archives, estates, interviews, personal conversations by and with Mevhibe Çetin, Nuran Dirlikli, Aysel Göksu, İdil Laçin, Nuran Oktar, Emine Sevgi Özdamar, Mefharet Sayınbatur, Güneş Schulz, Filiz Taşkın, Melek Konukman-Tulgan & Nica Sultana Vasiliou and many other contemporary witnesses.
*Headline of the Turkish daily newspaper Tercüman, 1964
As part of the 7th Berliner Herbstsalon ЯE:IMAGINE: THE RED HOUSE