Nicht die Ersten – Bewegungsgeschichten von Queers of Color in Deutschland

Who writes history? Which voices are remembered, and which fall into obscurity? How can queer experiences of migration, resistance and community be passed on from generation to generation?

At BERLIN GLOBAL, we invite you to an evening with Tarek Shukrallah. The starting point is their book “Nicht die Ersten: Bewegungsgeschichte von Queers of Color in Deutschland” (Assoziation A, 2024), which brings together queer Black people and People of Color as part of a long, often overlooked history of collective movements.

Shukrallah’s publication brings together memories and political engagement across several generations and shifts the lens on current debates. Struggles for visibility, belonging and self-determination do not emerge in isolation; they build on existing networks and earlier experiences. At the same time, the book asks how history is told, passed on and preserved.

The evening brings together reading, conversation and film. We will screen the short film “unbequem für eine andere Zukunft” (2024) by Tarek Shukrallah and Asarela Orchidia Dewi, which takes up key motifs from the book and translates them into a visual reflection on cultures of remembrance among Queers of Color.

In conversation with Omar Nicolas, Shukrallah approaches archives as places of preservation and as sites where exclusion takes shape. They discuss how knowledge is passed between generations and how queer BIPoC histories can remain accessible beyond institutional frameworks.

The event will take place in German.

The event is part of the Open Space installation “Time Machine Infinitum – Queer migrant Berlin”. The work by Noam Gorbat, Omar Nicolas and Sama Ahmadi brings together historical and contemporary traces of queer migrant, Black, Jewish and BIPoC communities in Berlin. It understands history as an entangled structure of memories and experiences that connects past, present and future.