Over 40 years ago, the first Vietnamese women came to the GDR as students, as part of an apprenticeship or as contract workers. Some were mothers who had to leave their families behind. Others had a child against all political and economic odds. After reunification, they were the first unemployed of the new era. Their contracts expired, but they were not supposed to stay. The shortage of skilled workers and the euphemistic narrative of “working in a brotherly country” quickly turned into a fight for jobs, livelihoods and (residence) rights. Those who nevertheless decided not to return fought for their place, independence and self-determination and raised their children in a united Germany. On the stage of the puppet theater, three women of Vietnamese origin, together with three puppets and daughters of former contract workers, looked back on their own lives and individual experiences and told of the upheavals of the 1980s and 1990s from their perspective.

With “So glücklich, dass du Angst bekommst”, the Figurentheater Chemnitz and the project team of neue unentd_ckte narrative 2025 of ASA-FF e. V. explore the history of contract workers in the region.

As with the productions “Wenn mich einer gefragt …” and “Aufstand der Dinge”, they approached the stories of this city using biographical approaches and intensive research, focusing on individual perspectives. Interviews were conducted, documents examined and life paths traced. In the field between work – women – migration, the production focuses on three biographies and approaches the different perspectives and experiences. The production (directed by Miriam Tscholl) focuses exclusively on female biographies and looks at the upheavals and upheavals of the 1980s and 1990s from a migrant perspective.

Premiere: November 6, 2021
Dernière: May 18, 2024

Performance venue: Figurentheater Chemnitz

Partners:
Die Theater Chemnitz (Figurentheater Chemnitz)

Prize/award:
1st place at Kultur.LEBT.Demokratie 2023 (Saxon Prize for Cultural Education)

Featured image: Dieter Wuschanski