Von Fluchten und Wiederfluchten

What is it about?
Our time is characterized by flights and migration. According to the UNO, about 65 million people are fleeing during this year. Some of them are on their way in the region they live in, others are on their journey through a foreign country, because they had to leave their home country. Some of them are prosecuted or scared about their lives, because there is war in their country. Others are no longer tolerated and expelled from their homes. The reasons to escape are versatile. And often there is a story about the sorrow and destroyed existence which behind it. Because who leaves his home voluntarily?

In Germany arrive a lot of refugees, who are searching for a new home. Temporally or forever. Everyone of us is affected when it comes to flight and migration!

Obvious is: the phenomena flight is not new for Germany. Even during the third empire and the second World War happened a lot of flights. But also afterwards. Just think about the expulsion right after 1945, the several attempts of flights out of the German Democratic Republic until 1989 or the displacement-movements after the revolts 1956 or 1968 in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Sometimes people escaped, sometimes even in several attempts.

It is the subject of the new anthology. It wants to collect stories about flights yesterday and today and document the experiences, which were gained in the meanwhile.  It wants to compare and create new possibilities for comparisons, which are not able to make normally. It should be interesting to see which kind of reason can be gained out of it.

That is why we invite you to write for this new anthology. Apply yourself with experiences that you have made. With stories that you got told or with your imaginings or suggestions about that subject. There are several accesses. It does not matter where you are from or where you live! It is not important if you were a refugee once or if you only talk about it from another perspective!

What is is exactly about? Even Aeneas, Abraham, Jesus and Mohammed were as it is well known refugees. But in addition to that several writers had to flee once in their lifes. For example, Ovid, Dante, Aligheri, Friedrich Schiller, Victor Hugo, Heinrich Heine, Georg Büchner, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Pablo Neruda, Thomas Mann, Bertolt Brecht, Hilde Domin, Yaşar Kemal or Joseph Brodsky. That is why it is not surprising that flight has been thematised and adapted literary from ancient times until today. Just think about “Meda” by Euripides, “Germany. A winter’s tale” by Heinrich Heine or “Conversations in Exile” by Bertolt Brecht. There are several examples, which show that flight has been a key subject in literature.

And now? There are various reasons why people has to flee. One of them is threatened by prosecution because of political or religious reasons, the other is prosecuted, because he is a member of a minority, homosexual or just different in another way. Another reason is that people do not have an economic or social perspective in their home country.

Why did they flee? What was the reason for them to leave their home? How did they fare before, during and after their flight? Which kinds of consequences did they have to endure to be able to flee? Were there any consequences when they failed? The anthology is not only about flights but also about second attempts of flights with the focus is on the personal fate.

What was their flight route? What did they experience? The routes are often really adventurous and dangerous, sometimes linked to dramatic consequences for the refugees and their families. What did they risk to leave their homes? Or was everything easy?

Well, and then there is the question about the destination where they take refuge after their flight. They arrive where they hope to find security and a new home. Certainly everything will not work how they had planned it. It is a heartbeat situation. How have they been admitted into society? How have they been threatened? Did they get a new chance? Or did they experience hate and rejection? Have there been any clashs with other cultures or horizons of experience?

And now? Now fasten your eyes on the past. What has happened with you? How did the flight change you? What do you think about your old home? And your new home? Then there is also the question about the effects on you, your identity and your new life!

Do not underestimate the other form of flight, the inner emigration. That happens when people get mute or nun themselves out of pressure. That is also a circumstance of a flight, because there are often unbelievably consequences for the involved person. Do you belong to these people? Feel addressed!

Please write! Get yourself involved!
We are really looking forward to your articles!

Able to participate is everybody who is wholeheartedly affected by this subject. Minimum age is 16 years. It does not matter where you are from, where you were born or where you live! People who have not published an article are welcomed, too. The literary genre (prose, poetry, dramatic art, even diary entries, essays etc.) is free. You can hand in one prose paper (up to 10 pages (30 lines with 60 characters)) or up to 4 poems, which have not been published before. Please attach a short biography! The most interesting articles are going to be published in a book, which is expected to be released in spring 2017.

Information
Information about the project can be found at: www.grend.de , www.geest-verlag.de and www.arturnickel.de

Book premiere
Every author whose articles are included in the anthology will be informed (please name your email address!). You will receive an author’s copy for free. It is planned that the anthology will be presented to the general public when it will be published in April 2017.

Please do not forget to give the following information:
Name, address
Telephone number
Email address

Every author can write in the language he feels the most comfortable in. We will try to translate the article but also publish the text in its original language.

Please keep in mind:
Participants in the project agree that their texts are published in the anthology and in connection to that also in other mediums. Sent in texts cannot be returned. The legal process is excluded.

We answer your questions:

Artur Nickel
Kulturzentrum Grend
Westfalenstraße 311
455276 Essen
Tel.: 02327-974246
Fax.: 0201-8513250
arturnickel@web.de

Alfred Büngen
Geest Verlag
Lange Straße 41 a
49377 Vechta
Tel.: 04447-856580
Fax.: 04447-856581
info@geest-verlag.de


Deadline
All texts have to be handed in until 31.1.2017
At:
Kulturzentrum Grend
z. Hd. Artur Nickel
Stichwort Flucht
Westfalenstraße 311
45276 Essen
Fax.: 0201-8213250
Or via mail at: arturnickel@web.de