The photographer Mirko Müller can still remember the photo shoot with Pandora. As a young woman, she came to Germany from Macedonia because her husband had found a job here as a guest worker. She would have liked to go back to her old homeland at some point, but her children and grandchildren are at home in Germany and of course she would like to be with them. Her photo portrait is part of the project “From Coming, Going and Staying”, on which Mirko Müller has been working for 3 years. He went in search of those who had come to the still young, economically booming Federal Republic of Germany with the first recruitment agreement since 1955. Most of the people he met were happy that a young student was interested in them. And they were happy to be photographed by him. Many were only able to tell their life story in their mother tongue, says Mirko Müller. However, the translations can be found in the part of the exhibition that can be seen in the Goethe-Institut Mannheim. The language was often an important topic during the talks, says Mirko Müller. When they arrived in Germany, almost none of the women and men spoke German. Whether and how well they then learned German was very formative for their life in their new home, says the photographer. The project got bigger and bigger and Mirko Müller was happy when he found a partner in the Center for International Cultural Education at the Goethe-Institut Mannheim with whom he could develop the exhibition project. And it should go even further. Mirko Müller and the Goethe Institute Mannheim are calling on everyone, young and old, to tell their story of how they came to Germany. This can be done in any conceivable way, in writing, via e-mail or as a spoken text message.
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