July 27, 2017

Track 11: A movie about integration in Germany

tags:	#1960s, #Gastarbeiter, #Germany, #guest workers, #immigrant workers, #immigration policy, #integration, #Mönchengladbach, #Turkish
located:	, 42635, 42677
by:	Deniz Zehra Tavli

In 1966 Fehmi Gönüleğlendiren, a young man from Adana in Turkey arrived in the German city Mönchengladbach. He was one of the so called guest workers (Gastarbeiter) who came to help building up post-war Germany. He came among throusands of other unprofessional workers from Turkey. They were living in collective accommodations, ten to twelve men sharing a room. Because of the shift work in the factories, there was a permanent coming and going, day and night.

Fehmi Gönüleğlendiren was the grandfather of Çağdaş Eren Yüksel. The young filmmaker never got to know his grandfather, because he died much too early in a car accident. But now, Yüksel - who is known for his film "Asyland" - is retracing his family's roots and thus putting up a historical phenomenon to discussion which is more than ever an up-to-date topic in Germany: "I want to tell the story of the first generation of Turks who came to Germany in the 1960s," he says. "It's our last chance, because these people will leave us soon."

For several months now, he has been talking intensively with first-generation guest workers as with Germans who recall the 1960s and 1970s. The first days in rainy Germany. The first Turkish neighbor. The first German-Turkish love.

Çağdaş Yüksel processes the stories he collected in his film "Gleis 11", meaning "Track 11" which was the arrival track of guest workers at the station in Mönchengladbach. Thanks to the stories told, Yüksel provides the audience with a glimpse of the living conditions and circumstances at that time. "I want to tell the untold stories," he explains.

The team of young filmmakers involved in this project are in need of funding in order to continue their production of this independently produced film which is planned to be released in spring 2018- more than half a century after Yüksel's grandfather arrived on track 11. Feel encouraged to donate on the crowdfunding platform startnext, or like and share this great and necessary project!