The installation Unauthorized und Unverschämt looks at German history from a Black perspective: We take a look at the post-war period and then move forward to the beginnings of the more recent Black movement. We examine biographies of those who were born to Black US soldiers and white German mothers in the post-war years.

We have interviewed a generation and met wonderful people who talk about their upbringing, their struggles and the realities of Afro-German life. Their stories are accompanied and shaped by exclusion and official racism in the Federal Republic. But they are also, and above all, stories of resistance and community building.

Simone Dede Ayivi & Kompliz*innen go into the archives and shed light on the racism and sexism of the FRG – which is also responsible for families being separated and children being taken away from their mothers, adopted to the USA or placed in care homes. In Mannheim, Frankfurt a. M. and Berlin Simone Dede Ayivi & Kompliz*innen explore how society dealt with the so-called “occupation children” and look for traces left behind in official files. Because in order to understand current debates about identity and racism within and outside of Black communities in Germany, we also need to know this part of our history.

The premiere is a start. Simone Dede Ayivi & Kompliz*innen are bringing the status of their research and excerpts from conversations to the stage as a walk-in installation to celebrate moments of disruption in the German Republic together with their audience.