The project "Annen zeigt Gesicht - Zurück in die Zukunft" (Annen shows face - back to the future), which was conceived in cooperation with the photographer Dana Schmidt, is aimed at the new citizens of Witten who came to Germany in the wake of the Russian war of aggression. In this project people talk about their life in Ukraine, the days before the immediate start of the war, but also about the important role of democracy. Each interview lasted 45 minutes and swere very emotional.
The goal: to record eyewitness testimonies and make them available to the district of Witten Annen.
The photographer Dana Schmidt came to the integration agency of the German Red Cross with this kind of idea. We were allowed to talk to 12 people who lived in Ukraine, some of whom gave very emotional insights into their emotional world. We are grateful for that. Overall, this is a hybrid project, since on the one hand it is distributed analogously in the district. On the other hand, there will be QR codes on the portraits, which will make it possible to read the interviews digitally
The project was supported by the funding program of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth "Demokratie Leben", or "Democracy Living in Witten". In this context, we would also like to thank the cooperation partners: the Witten City Archive and Wolja e.V., the aid network for Ukrainian refugees. Special thanks go to Nataliya Koshel, Dr. Martina Kliner-Fruck, Dr. Andreas Lingg, Michael Lünning, Susanne Klönne and Sven Bentzien, who actively supported the project. Overall, it is important to take the necessary time to look at photographs and interviews. It is not and never was a matter of course that those portrayed open up as they did in this project.