Mr. Klötzer, you visited and took portraits of 120 Germans in the United States for your German Americans project. How did you come up with this unusual idea?
I grew up in the GDR, but went to West Germany after the fall of the Wall – that was how I experienced my second socialization. I soon noticed that although we were all German, we didn’t speak the same language. The reason for that is clear: while the red star shone over the East, the Marshall Plan led to an economic miracle in the West. I wanted to get to know the model on which West German society was based and that’s why I decided to go to the United States. After World War II, West Germany effectively developed as a child of US society. So I went to the United States and had a look at how Germans live in that country. Anyone who leaves his or her home country is eventually confronted with questions about his or her identity – it doesn’t matter if you move from East to West Germany or – as in this case – emigrate from Germany to America. When I boarded the plane to New York for the first time, I was also engaged in a search for my own identity. In the United States I noticed how strongly ideas of Germany are still strongly influenced by cliches – forgive me for saying so, but very few Germans actually wear Lederhosen and a Gamsbart on their hats. Americans do not often think of Germany as a high-tech country – with the exception of German automobiles. The same also applies to Germany as an immigration country. Many US citizens do not know that over two million Turks live in the Federal Republic. There’s an information gap – and this project can certainly make a contribution to overcoming that.
In the course of your research did you yourself ever feel the urge to move to the United States?
No, not really. Although after spending ten months working on this project I could well imagine it if an interesting opportunity arose. I always keep an open mind and am ready to try new things.
What kind of life do the men and women you present have in the United States?
The people I met are largely doing well. But, obviously, there are also free-lance artists or journalists who have a harder time. However, nobody complained. After all, all of them took a conscious decision to live in the United States. They say to themselves what Americans would say: if one thing doesn’t work, then I’ll start something else. And I like that attitude very much.
Wouldn’t it also be interesting to go in the opposite direction, to organize a project about Americans in Germany?
The appropriate Internet domain has already been reserved. But first of all the bilingual website at www.deutsche-in-amerika.net is being developed for Web 2.0. It is intended to become a platform and a network for Germans in the USA. In recent months I’ve received many requests to participate in the project – that gave me the impetus to offer the Internet platform on the basis of my work. I’m convinced that there is a high level of demand for information exchange. I would also like to set up a similar offering for Americans in Germany – but you can only do one thing at a time. The project also received a great deal of support from the German Embassy in Washington and the Consulate-General in New York so that in addition to a professionally produced exhibition with 63 portraits and 40 framed interviews it was also possible to realize the book German Americans. The exhibition has already been shown in Germany and is intended to travel through America at some time in the future. So far it has only been shown in Washington. I would be glad if interested parties contacted me.
