Immigration History Museum – Musée de l'Histoire de l'Immigration

(Last Update: 06.09.2024) This time, we will visit an interesting museum with the theme of "Migration" in Paris together; While traveling, we will try to approach the subject from different perspectives. Yes, the museum we will get to know in this article: Paris Museum of Immigration History – Musée de l'Histoire de l'Immigration (museum dö listuağ dö limigation).

Some of you wonder if there would be a museum on immigration, every country has its own immigrants, and is it an immigrant country like France, Canada and the USA? you may ask. Like every country, France has witnessed many migrations throughout history. This museum examines migrations over the last two hundred years.

Immigration is a somewhat ambivalent issue. Unfortunately, every country that has established an imperial state in history has inevitably had blood on its hands. The phenomenon of migration, emigration and asylum naturally brings with it issues of adaptation and assimilation. Some of the studies carried out to examine the effects of the population transfer that took place as a result of France's colonization movement in the 19th century are exhibited in this museum. At that time, massive immigration caused France to establish all kinds of relationships and interactions with the people in the lands it captured, and then the people in these lands began to come to France.

Especially the intense migration from the African continent to France has greatly affected the ethnographic structure of France. These migrations also bring up issues of racism and equality. Later, from the beginning of the 20th century, France also received its share from the mass displacements that occurred as a result of the world wars, and there was intense immigration from many different countries.

The Immigration History Museum is an extremely interesting museum focused on this subject. In the east wing of Paris Vincennes ForestWhere it begins, Porte Doréegrand exhibition palace in Palace of the Golden GateThe museum located in 1930s architecture It resembles Anıtkabir and the current building of the Turkish Grand National Assembly.

Colonial Exposition in 1931 The structure built for this reason has served different functions since then, but 2007It has been used as the Museum of Immigration History since. Strangely enough, the official opening was made by the then president Francois Hollande by 2014Only 16.000 square meters of the 1.250 square meter building is used as a permanent exhibition area.

We first visited this place at the beginning of August 2015. Free museums to visit on the first Sunday of every month We visited within the scope of . As soon as you enter the building and pass the main hall, there is a huge hall right in front of you. The murals in this hall are worth seeing. I also recommend you to see the two models in the cabins on the left and right. The model on the right is a model showing the area where the first exhibition was held in 1931, and the one on the left is a wooden model of the building you are in now.

To visit the exhibition, you go up the stairs on the left. There are usually periodic exhibitions in the gallery on the first floor. The entrance price of the museum may vary depending on whether there is a periodic exhibition or not. You can find information about current prices and periodic exhibitions from the official web page link at the end of the article.

Then you go to the top floor, where the permanent exhibition is located. After that, you can turn left or right and start your trip.

Here you witness traces of the migrations that affected France for two centuries. In addition to plenty of documents, photographs and objects, detailed panels give you information about the history of migration. Then, you start in the middle in an inverted U shape and continue your journey to the right or left. We started from the left side first. The photographs, films and various installation works you see here are all so impressive. In the history of Turkey that I have witnessed, our Turkish compatriots coming from Bulgaria, the intense Peshmerga migration during the Iraq war, and today's flocks of people coming to Turkey from Syria, Iran and Afghanistan. When you take into account the immigrants coming to Turkey, you cannot help but think to what extent we are planned and programmed in this regard...

There was also intense Portuguese immigration in France for a period. Located in the eastern parts of Paris today soulless concrete blocks It had to be erected at that time. Because this intense migration had to be settled somehow and they found the solution for that period. Therefore, not every country can easily maintain its current order in the face of such a sudden and intense wave of immigration. Uncontrolled migration has negative effects in every country. Then somehow the pieces fall into place...

While visiting the museum, I can't tell you how surprised I was to see that there were once slums and canister cities in Paris. Although there are still immigrants living there, The Other Paris The areas I mentioned cannot be said to be pleasant, but at least the slum conditions were eliminated and houses were produced that would meet the minimum standards for everyone to keep a roof over their heads. In fact, I have come across small shacks near Paris lately; It is impossible to predict when a solution will be found to the consequences of the socio-economic problems experienced.

Of course, there are also traces of immigrants from Turkey in France's immigration history. Particularly with the 1970 coup, political migration was added to the economic migration that started in the 1980s, and the Turkish population in France increased rapidly. In later years, with the migration from the east, it became necessary to emphasize the Turkish and Kurdish migration instead of the Turkish population, but just as if you are a French citizen in France, your nationality is French regardless of your race, in the same way, citizens of the Republic of Turkey are perceived as Turkish citizens. Otherwise, if you go into depth, you will come to the conclusion that most of the people living in France are not actually French. Without counting the citizens of other origins who came and settled outside of France, people from so many different nationalities living in France, who once spoke completely different languages ​​and today have largely assimilated, share the same land. Looking at the history of France from this perspective becomes a very interesting subject as I research.

Jewish, Greek and Armenian immigration also had a great impact on the history of France. These immigrants, who were especially advanced in trade and crafts, made a significant contribution to the development of France and its acquisition of another dimension; Of course, these migrations also caused the colors of the mosaic of the country they had to leave to fade... When we see how densely the Armenians who immigrated to France were a group, it becomes possible to understand why they were so active in the political and cultural arena.

No matter what, when you are forced to migrate against your will, the first generation suffers the most. The second generation is confused about what to do, and from the third generation onwards, dissolution (in other words, adaptation/assimilation) begins. Whereas Decision to settle in another country with your own consent The feeling you feel when you receive it and manage to do it legally is completely different. In this sense, I can say that there is no feeling of "homelessness". Again, Adapt as much as you want to the new country you settle in, since you did not grow up with the same lullabies, even if everything seems to be fine, something is always missing.. Maybe I'm denying myself here, who knows?…

While visiting this museum, I wondered if I was an immigrant living in France. After all, I was not a native of France, but frankly I would not like to be remembered as an immigrant. I didn't immigrate to Paris, I was just someone who wanted to live in France for a while, as long as I wanted. Yes, I was no longer living in the land where I was born and raised, and I was becoming increasingly alienated from there; Besides Turkish citizenship, EU citizenship was also important to me. So what would my position be? This is what I kept thinking about while wandering around the showcases, billboards, paintings and films. Then years passed and a life order was established between France and Türkiye. Even though I always thought of myself as an Istanbulite, I was now confused about where I really was from.

As one of the most prominent examples of development, France also believes in equality and freedom, but when it comes to immigrants, that is, "foreigners", discussions flare up. This issue is neither completely black nor completely white; Of course, there are many colors in between. After all, if we think about Turkey, I don't know to what extent the effects of many mass migrations towards Turkey in our recent history have been measured, but each individual coming from the "outside" is affected by the individual from the "inside". shares his bread. On the one hand, the "insider" does not want to do the work that would be done by the "outsider", on the other hand, there are people who will do whatever job it is and there is a ""bread fight" is happening. When religious, ethnic, political and cultural differences are added to this, creating a beautiful mosaic is not always that easy, and sometimes it turns into a vicious circle.

You are / are forced to accept an uneducated mass into your land, or the things you have caused throughout history ultimately require this; Then you don't educate that mass, you can't educate it, and eventually you exclude it. The more they are excluded, the more they gather among themselves, the more they gather, the more they ossify, the more they become ossified, the more conspicuous they become. So you don't want them; You say "they" and exclude even more; A vicious circle continues... Anyway, what am I saying? Ah yes, we are at the Immigration History Museum. There is a very nice music system in one of the halls on the left wing. A selection of songs with the theme of "Expatriation". You touch whomever you want, and that song starts playing in the big hall. I DalidaI listen to, then Enrico Macias sings: “J'ai quitté mon pays.” Music unites people…

Of course, we should not think of migration as a movement carried out only by lower socio-economic groups. While visiting this museum, you see how many "foreigners" who shaped the culture of France and the world chose France to live. Frederic Chopin, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Oscar Wilde, Marc Chagall, Josephine bakerAlbert Camus and who else who. What impressed me most was that Picasso applied for French citizenship once in the 1940s and was rejected, and he never re-applied for citizenship in his life.

Of course, for example, when you look at the 2015 French cabinet, you will see that many names, including Prime Minister Manual Valls, are of immigrant origin. So much so that he later even ran for Mayor of Barcelona. Even the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, is an immigrant politician who was born in Spain and is a member of a Spanish family. Fleur Pellerin, who was the minister of culture in France, was adopted by a French family at a very young age after being born in South Korea and abandoned by her family. brought. Think about the rest yourself and make a projection from here to Turkey, please. I say so, but after I wrote this museum article, the far right began to rise in France starting from the 2020s. Let's see where this trend will end.

After wandering around the halls with these feelings and visiting the other wing, you complete your tour with the feeling that you have visited a larger exhibition than a museum. Then it's time to go down to the bottom floor - my favorite thing to do in museums - and sit in the cafe and eat and drink something; If the weather is nice, it is very enjoyable to go out and sit on the terrace. As you know, I also museum shopI like visiting museums. Wasn't it really in this museum? museum shop Or did I jump while traveling?

Actually, there is also an aquarium in this building, but I did not enter it. Monte CarloAfter visiting the Captain Cousteau Museum in , I don't think the aquarium here will impress me, but maybe you can visit and write your ideas in the comments section.

So how do you get here? Of course M8 of the metro Porte Doree After getting off at the station, you will see the museum on the left at the exit. Also T3a tramway You can get there by getting off at the bus stop with the same name. The museum is open every day between 10:00 and 19:00, except public holidays and Mondays.

Speaking of immigration, just to give you an idea: Working in Paris – Business Life in France ve Being an Expat in Paris I also recommend you to read his articles.

So what will you do after visiting the Immigration History Museum? Without hesitation, it starts right next to you and continues endlessly. Vincennes ForestYou will visit, at least take a walk around the small but beautiful lake Lac Daumesnil. medieval castle Vincennes Castle It is also one of the must-see places. There is also a Zoo right nearby, then Paris Botanical Garden – Parc Floral de Paris and much more.

Pleasant trips, pleasant discoveries…

Web address: palais-portedoree.fr

Address: 293 Avenue Daumesnil, 75012 Paris