Places of (In)Visibility

How can places be invisible when they still exist? It’s not the places themselves that are invisible, but rather the many stories associated with them. The "Places of (In)Visibility" project focuses on the stories of people who came to Hamburg from East Germany (GDR) at different times and in various ways. These stories span from 1953 to 1989. Tales of escape, emigration, and settling into a new city transform everyday, inconspicuous, or even touristy places into special sites of personal memory.

On five tours and at 16 different stations, you will learn what these places meant to people—and what they still mean today. The memories of contemporary witnesses form the heart of the audio walk. Their stories are contextualized and commented on. Additionally, there are numerous documents to discover at each station. Each tour takes you to three to four stations and lasts about 45 minutes. You can visit the places in person or listen from home—whether you live in Hamburg, are visiting the city, or are simply interested in these places.

The "Places of (In)Visibility" project is a collaboration between the Public History department of the University of Hamburg and the Hamburg State Center for Political Education. It is made possible and funded by the Federal Minister for Media and Culture under the "Youth Remembers" federal program and supported by the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship.

Tour three begins at the Landungsbrücken. Here, the question of whether and when a new city can become something like home will be explored. After that, the tour continues on the Elbe River with line 62. The Elbe, as a connecting river, holds special significance for many contemporary witnesses. The tour ends in Finkenwerder. Until the 1970s, there was a transit camp here where people found accommodation. Two contemporary witnesses also stayed here in the 1950s after previously living in the Lettow-Vorbeck barracks. At that time, the Finkenwerder transit camp at Neßpriel was intended for those who could remain in Hamburg.