Stories of Displacement

Since the beginning of the 20th century, millions of people have fled or been displaced. According to the Global Trends Report (UNHCR), 110 million people are currently affected. Behind these unfathomable dimensions lie countless individual fates. Illustrator Viktoria Cichoń (Vikunia) has drawn some of the stories of flight and displacement from our exhibitions.

Vikunia has been working as a freelance illustrator in Berlin since 2014, focussing on characters and their stories. She draws inspiration from the big city, personal experiences and political movements. You can find more information about the artist and her work here.

Escape stories illustrated in the picture series:

Would you like to know more about Bassem?
Bassem experienced the importance of a simple smartphone during his displacement from Syria to Germany. He uses his smartphone to take pictures along the way, documenting the stages of his displacement. But it also helps him to find his way around, keep in touch with others and even save people from drowning at sea. Bassem lives with his family in the small town of Al Qutayfah near Damascus. Due to the ongoing civil war, his parents fear that he will be conscripted into the Syrian army in 2015. They send him and his brother on displacement. They first travelled by car to Lebanon, from where they flew to Turkey. In Istanbul, Bassem buys far too expensive tickets from a smuggler for the crossing to Greece on a rubber dinghy. Only on the fourth attempt do they manage to make the risky journey across the Mediterranean. The brothers board an overcrowded boat with adults and children. With the help of his smartphone, Bassem is able to navigate the boat to Lesbos. The brothers finally arrive in Germany in November 2015 via the so-called Balkan route. They are initially taken in at the refugee centre at Tempelhof Airport in Berlin.

Would you like to find out more about Nata?
Nata lives with her husband and 12-year-old son in the city of Poltava in eastern Ukraine. She works there as a sales manager for a large international corporation. When Russia invades Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the family is on a skiing holiday in Dragobrat in the west of the country. Nata's husband sets off for Poltava to get travel documents for his family, risking his life in the process. On 2 March, Nata and her son flee via Yassinja by train to Lviv. From there, they travelled on by car across the Ukrainian-Polish border, Krakow and Poznan. After seven exhausting days, they reach Berlin.

Would you like to find out more about the Ferger family?
The farming family belongs to the German minority in the Syrmia region and lives in the small town of Erdevik. Syrmia is now in Serbia, but from 1941 to 1945 it belonged to Croatia, which was allied with Nazi Germany at the time. The Croatian state persecuted the Serbian population. Conflicts also broke out between the German and Serbian populations in Erdevik. In the summer of 1944, the Red Army moves ever closer. The Association of Germans in Croatia prepares to evacuate the German population. In mid-October 1944, the Fergers also set off in a horse-drawn wagon. At this point, the family consisted of six people: Magdalena Ferger and her three children as well as her parents-in-law Anna and Simon. They join a refugee route that covers a distance of over 1,000 kilometres through Hungary, past Vienna and Linz to Upper Austria. The Fergers arrive in Regau, Austria, in mid-November and find accommodation with a doctor. The father of the family, Nikolaus Ferger, was released from British captivity in the summer of 1945 and also came to Regau. By the end of the war in 1945, it was clear that the displacement would become permanent and a return to Erdevik was impossible. The family starts a new life in Regau.

Would you like to find out more about Stanisław?
Stanisław Bober comes from a Polish-Armenian family. Until the summer of 1945, he lived with his wife Maria and their young daughter Danuta in the town of Stanisławów (now Ivano-Frankivsk in Ukrainian) in eastern Galicia, Poland. He worked there as a photographer and teacher of advertising photography. After the war, Eastern Galicia, including Stanisławów, was annexed to the Ukrainian Soviet Republic. But the Bobers did not want to live in the Soviet Union. They also no longer felt safe in the region after many Poles were murdered by Ukrainian nationalists. Like many other Polish compatriots, the Bobers decide to emigrate westwards. They travelled for three weeks on a goods train. They do not yet know the destination of their journey. En route, the train stops for nine days at Ligota station near Katowice. The passengers spend their time travelling next to the tracks or in open fields. They build makeshift shelters and cook outdoors. Stanisław Bober captures this situation in photos that are very well known today. The family eventually settled in Opole in Upper Silesia, now called Opole in Polish. The city was badly damaged by the war, but Stanisław Bober was able to build a new life here as a photographer, graphic artist, stage designer and painter.

Would you like to find out more about Augusta?
Augusta Krüger's (1913-2015) displacement at the end of the Second World War turned into a week-long odyssey along the Baltic coast. In mid-March 1945, Augusta fled from Gdansk to the Frische Nehrung, a peninsula to the east, to escape the advancing front. She desperately searches for a ship to take her to safety. She makes it as far as East Prussia, but has to turn back because Soviet troops are coming towards her. Augusta's life is endangered several times. She uses the blank pages of her passport to record her dramatic experiences. In mid-April, she finally makes it onto a ship that takes her to Denmark. She lived there for two years in various refugee camps and taught German children as a teacher. It was not until 1947 that Augusta was allowed to leave for Germany.