We are from here. Turkish-German Life 1990. Photographies by Ergun Çağatay – Museum of European Cultures

At the beginning of 1990, the Istanbul photographer Ergun Çağatay (1937-2018) visited several German cities. This resulted in the most comprehensive photo reportage on Turkish immigration and the presence of people of Turkish origin in Germany. The Museum of European Cultures (MEK) is showing around 110 of the nearly 3,500 photographs, which take us right into the lives of the first and second generation of Turkish labour migrants and paint a diverse picture of their realities in the year 1990, the year of the fall of communism.

Caption title: Historic tram of type 3344 in shuttle service in front of the Turkish Bazaar, platform hall of the disused Art Nouveau elevated railway station Bülowstraße, Berlin-Schöneberg © Ergun Çağatay / Fotoarchiv Ruhr Museum / Stadtmuseum Berlin / Stiftung Historische Museen Hamburg