What does Heimat mean today—and who is allowed to belong there? How can East Germany be portrayed in a more diverse way—beyond the image of an exclusively ‘white’ East?

People from Vietnam, Mozambique, Cuba, Poland, Chile, Angola, and other nations lived in the GDR—whether as so-called contract workers, students, or as political refugees. New generations of migrants and BIPOC joined them after 1990. Yet their stories often remain invisible.

This discussion round, as part of the haamit heimaten festival, aims to broaden perspectives: What experiences of belonging, exclusion, or rootedness can be found in the new federal states beyond the dominant narratives? How can Heimat be reconsidered—as a feeling, as a place, or as a relationship? And what roles can memory, language, and political struggles play in the design of a new and plural concept of Heimat?

Featuring Lydia Lierke (Offener Prozess – Dokumentationszentrum zum NSU-Komplex), Dr. Patrice G. Poutrus (Historian, University of Osnabrück), Claudia Tuyết Scheffel (Filmmaker, works include Lonig & Havendel, 2025), and moderated by Max Czollek.