"OUR HOMELAND? WHO WOULD NOT WANT TO REMAIN IN LIFE?"

In the exhibition “OUR HOMELAND? WHO WOULD NOT WANT TO REMAIN IN LIFE,” Berlin artist Thomas Bratzke presents an immersive installation of video, sound, and objects, inviting visitors to engage with their subjective relationship to the concept of “Heimat” (homeland/home).

Sixth-grade choir students from Berlin’s Händel-Gymnasium for music explore the intangible cultural heritage of a German-socialist past through rehearsals and scenic play. This is the very school where, in 1951, the GDR composer Naumilkat set the famous song “Unsre Heimat” (Our Homeland) to music with the Children’s Radio Choir for the people.

Bratzke sings these old songs with the children. By dissecting the lyrics, new verses and numerous questions emerge, touching upon this highly topical “wildcard” term in its current tension between a political fighting word and an existential experience. It is a concept that can be constantly refilled with different meanings.

 “From an ethological and anthropological perspective, Heimat primarily reflects the need for spatial orientation—for a territory that can provide identity, stimulation, and security for one’s own existence.” (P. Leyhausen)

If Heimat is linked to security, how does that square with the feeling of queuing with nearly 800 other people to view a rental apartment (Berlin Prenzlauer Berg, 2017)? What would be the task of a “Ministry of Homeland,” as recently proposed to the federal government by the CDU/CSU? And how does the next generation feel about the concept of home?

„Question: What do you understand by the term Heimat? 
Where you are born, grow up, and live; where your core people are; if you move to another country, the country where you were born is still your Heimat. If you live there for a long time, maybe that becomes your Heimat too…
Question: What do you believe belongs to you in our country? 
Our apartment, our home; rented, built, it belongs to me; I moved, I don’t feel at home, I feel drawn to my old apartment, that’s where I was born; you get older, people move in, people move out…
Question: Is there anyone who wants to take your Heimat away? 
I believe no one can take Heimat away from me unless there is a war, a disaster, or a lack of money.” CHOIR STUDENTS, AGES 11–13