WEBVTT

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Our exhibition on citizenships

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since the French Revolution

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has a clear core thesis:

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Citizenship has become the dominant form of political affiliation

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over the course of time,

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and it decides on the life,

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and survival chances of people.

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The topicality is omnipresent,

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because the concept of citizenship

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is about the most important instrument of the modern state:

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it includes and excludes people.

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And it is these transitions,

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that I find it most exciting –

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the admission into a citizenship,

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the procedures that are applied here,

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the struggles for citizenship,

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as for example in the room where we are right now,

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the struggle of women for their right to vote.

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This is about a historical concept,

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about one of the most important concepts,

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if you want to understand history,

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and how people live together – 

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I find that highly exciting, highly charged.

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We're running through it from A to Z on the basis of a thesis that says,

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that if citizenship is so important to the individual,

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then struggles for the admission to citizenship

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will be fought.

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The starting point of our exhibition

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is, of course, the French Revolution in 1789.

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The French Revolution is a globally significant event,

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but also a founding instance in terms of citizenship.

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Belonging means inclusion,

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and inclusion means exclusion at the same time.

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Forms of discrimination,

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of exclusion from belonging

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are very important within our exhibition,

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and in the following theme rooms,

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dealing with the discrimination against groups,

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the discrimination against women,

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the discrimination against Jews,

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and finally, a structural form of discrimination

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in European colonialism, and within racism.

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The exhibition deals with ways of identification,

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of segregation, and selection.

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The determination of belonging and not belonging,

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takes the form of refined technical methods of border control,

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and of passport control.

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And there is the most blatant and sharpest form

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of discharge from the civic community – 

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this is the deprivation of citizenship

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as an extreme form of exclusion and of belonging.

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We end the exhibition

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with very topical struggles for belonging.

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Namely with the questions: what does the Brexit mean?

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What does Covid mean for the citizenship of the European Union?

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So for another new form of citizenship?

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This and of course the current war-related

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and not war-related refugee flows,

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that we witness in the heart of Europe, and especially in Poland,

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but partly also in Germany and in France – 

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all of this has to do with citizenship,

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with assignment, and with belonging.