Anyone who leaves his homeland is either looking for or fleeing something
Dr. Ingo Schöningh, Head of Cultural Programmes, Goethe Institute Jakarta
Following the invasion of South Vietnam by Ho Chi Minh’s troops in 1975, almost 40,000 refugees of Vietnamese descent sought refuge in West Germany. They proved, virtually as paragon immigrants, that foreigners’ integration into the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) was feasible — despite the fact that Germany in many cases was a chance destination, or one imposed arbitrarily, and despite the dramatic loss of social standing and long years of precarity that generally accompanied their new start in a strange country.
While refugees in West Germany were growing accustomed to their new reality, a large number of Vietnamese contract workers were en route to Vietnam’s “Socialist Brotherland,” the German Democratic Republic (GDR), in order to relieve labor shortages in nationalized industries there, in textile production for example. It is estimated that around 60,000 Vietnamese workers were in the GDR at the time of German Reunification (1990).
A considerable number of Vietnamese immigrants thus secured a foothold in Germany, for one reason or another. To this day, they continue to serve as cultural ambassadors, arranging for a niece to study in Dresden, sending German baby food to a sister in Hanoi, or touting Vietnamese restaurants to Germans. They are the neighbors with successful children, and incense burning on the family altar. Yet what happens when — despite the better educational prospects, higher quality goods, and measure of social stability that Germany may offer — a yearning persists for the land of their ancestors? It too is changing, and now possibly offers more opportunities to post-migration German-Vietnamese than Germany can. Vietnam’s economic potential has increased exponentially in recent years, and German sausage has long since made an appearance on the streets of Hanoi. And just as many well-educated German-Turks now return to the land of their fathers, so too, from time to time, a first- or second-generation German-Vietnamese is tempted to return to the Red River or the Mekong.
The book
112 pages
52 images
250 x 300 mm
Hard cover
Bilingual Edition
Design: Sonja Jobs
ISBN 978-3866786257
The yearning for one’s home in Vietnam, and the decision to return there, is the connecting link between all the protagonists in Nora Bibel’s photographs. Over the course of numerous trips to Vietnam, the photographer visited Vietnamese people who had lived in Germany for several years but have now returned to Vietnam and are recounting their stories. Even though each image is arranged and staged, the photos are nevertheless very personal and have a documentary feel to them.
The individual life histories of the protagonists tell of the close connection between the two countries, as does the way in which they pursue the issue of home itself.
Solo Exhibitions
“Heimat – Que Huong”, Alabama, Sir, F/Stop Festival, Leipzig, Germany
“Heimat – Que Huong”, Vietnamese German Cultural Centre, Hanoi, Vietnam, presented by the German Embassy in Vietnam, with the support of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
“Heimat – Que Huong”, Museum Lichtenberg, Berlin, Germany
“Heimat – Que Huong”, Showroom of the Days of Photography at the House of Literature, Darmstadt, Germany
“Heimat – Que Huong”, book launch, ifa-Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Group Exhibitions
“Messages”, 6th European Month of Photography, Strahler, Berlin, Germany
“The View of the Other”, 5th European Month of Photography, Artificial Image, Berlin, Germany
“Trien lam anh”, An Dinh Palace, Hué, Vietnam
Grants & Awards
ifa, Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen, Stuttgart: Project Funding