‘Once upon a time there was a Garden of Eden’ Book presentation with discussion on the current situation in Syria

A Garden of Eden that is no more — this best describes the collaborative work of journalist Martin Gehlen, who passed away in 20??, and photographer Katharina Eglau. In their new book Es war einmal ein Garten Eden (Once Upon a Time There Was a Garden of Eden), they bring together reports and photographs from a period when they traveled the Middle East from Egypt and later Tunisia. Their texts and images open windows onto the stories of people whose lives have been shaped by flight, war, and hope.

Reports with urgent contemporary relevance.

As early as 2015, Gehlen and Eglau traveled to Egypt to meet Syrian families, write down their stories, and document them in photographs. In the essay “The Syrian Refugee Tragedy from the Perspective of Children,” Gehlen describes how war and displacement shape young people’s lives and what it means to try for a new beginning far from home.

Even today, nearly fourteen years after the outbreak of the war, after the fall of the Assad regime and with a transitional government that has so far fallen short of its promises, the questions remain urgent: millions of Syrians still live in exile or are displaced within the country. Infrastructure and the economy are largely destroyed, and domestic and foreign policy challenges are putting the country to the test. “Even now, the exodus from Syria is the greatest refugee catastrophe in the modern history of the Middle East,” Gehlen wrote in 2015, an assessment that has lost none of its relevance.

But what does it mean for a country when several million of its citizens have built lives beyond its borders? When their children have grown up in another language and culture?

Which immediate challenges require urgent action, and what needs to be implemented over the longer term at the level of laws, institutions, and the judiciary?

How are Syrians navigating the difficulties their country faces today? What do they expect from the international community—especially the European Union and Germany—to support the development of a safe, just, and democratic system in Syria?

Discussants:

• Mohamad Al Attar, playwright
• Razan Rashidi*, The Syrian Campaign
• Jamshid Hussein*, sociologist

Moderator: Bente Scheller

Languages: German/English Simultaneous interpretation

Information: 
Sandra Nenninger
Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung
E nenninger@boell.de

Following the discussion, we warmly invite you to the opening of the exhibition “Fragile Dreams,” with photographer Katharina Eglau in attendance.

The book Es war einmal ein Garten Eden will be available for purchase at the event.

» Participation on site
at the the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Conference Center, Schumannstr. 8, 10117 Berlin

Please register in advance. Unfortunately, the number of seats for this event are limited. If we are at capacity, the conversation will be transmitted via video to other rooms.

» Livestream
Alternatively, you can follow the event via livestream without registering.
Livestream in Englisch
Livestream in German

» Towards Greater Accessibility
At the Heinrich Böll Foundation, we are constantly striving to remove barriers. Whether in our building, in the release of publications or at online events. All information on this can be found under the following link: https://www.boell.de/de/auf-dem-weg-zur-barrierefreiheit