FLUGT – REFUGEE MUSEUM WITH THE QUEEN OPENING
SHORT – SoMe version (4:49 min)
Brand new museum building connecting the old refuge buildings into one museum called FLUGT, about becoming a refugee.
The background for FLUGT is the 250.000 German refugees that lived in the houses in Oksbøl refugee camp after the 2nd world war. However another story is about refugees, through the last hundred years coming to Denmark.
Cases making the visit historic, political, personal and humanitarian.
LONG VNR – video news releases
VNR (7:39 min)
OKSBØL
VARDE
DENMARK
DATE: 26.6.2023
LENGTH: 7.36
PRODUCER CONTACT:
Anders Kongshaug
+45 23203058
SOURCE: Flugt og Varde Municipality
COPYRIGHT:
Free copyright on all platforms
STORY
Brand new museum building connecting the old refuge buildings into one museum called FLUGT, about becoming a refugee.
The background for FLUGT is the 250.000 German refugees that lived in the houses in Oksbøl refugee camp after the 2nd world war. However another story is about refugees, through the last hundred years coming to Denmark.
Cases making the visit historic, political, personal and humanitarian.
Director Claus Kjeld Jensen received Her Majesty The Queen explained:
“If we do not dare taking up difficult issues and themes that are relevant for the day being the museums and not relevant”.
Inside you get headphones and hear refugees talking about the time in the camp.
One of the stories is told by now 19 year Rahima Abdullah, Syrian Refugee that in 5 years have learned Danish and was present at the Royal opening:
Rahima Abdullah, Syrian Refugee explains: “Today, refugees are being reduced to numbers. One forgets that behind the concept of refugees there are people who have their own stories to tell, quite ordinary people who have become refugees because of something they have not chosen themselves”.
According to UNHCR is 89,3 mio. people forcibly misplaced and the museum shows the movements of refugees since world war 2.
Refugees in the Oksbøll camp after the 2nd. World War II had a cinema with room for 850 people. “It was a city. There were theaters, schools, cinemas. There was a mayor’s office. There was a police station. There was a fire station. There were all the functions you would imagine to find in the big city.”, explains Claus Kjeld Jensen, Director Museum.
Jôrg Baden was a refugee In Oksbøl from 1945 to 1949 and he felt it safed his family.
“Well, it was good for us”, Jôrg Bader explained, “After the total collapse of the Third Reich and many, many families ruined, separated, destroyed. And for us, we got a chance to start a new life”.
Jôrg Baden is now 82 and started school in Oxsbøl. Schools and cultural arrangements were important to move on from the trauma becoming a refuge and having to start all over again.
Refugee Rahima Abdullah, Syrian Refugee explains further how important it is to study inorder to move on: “Now I have been been here for 6-7 years. I speak Danish. I just had my last day at the College. Soon I will continue to study at Uni (ref. University).
So I have that connection. That way I feel at home in Denmark”.
Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II was touched by the stories she heard and said:
“None of us had thought that it would be so sadly topical to talk about refugees and about escape, but here we are now”.
Germany’s Vice- Chancellor Robert Habeck also joined the opening:
“Well, this exhibition very much points to personal memories of the refugees. So it’s very intense, very emotional, and the Vice-Chancellor continued. “From a political side, all the questions of refugees, it’s very it’s very, very complicated from the personal side, just very, very easy. We have to stop the wars and we have to help the people.”
Listening to the stories in the headphones is the essence and a proud BJARKE INGELS said, “A great way to preserve buildings is to find ways to blow new life into them and to deliver new relevance.”
50 tonnes of Corten steel were used for the new building.
The German state and the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein as well as the municipality of Varde have provided extraordinary support for the construction of the museum.
The museum opens to the public on 29 June.
END
SHOT
- ARCHITECT RENDERED OF OUTSIDE FLUGT MUSEUM
- DRONE OUTSIDE MUSEUM TWO PEOPLE WALKING IN
- ARCHITECT RENDERED OF INSIDE FLUGT MUSEUM FOYER
- DRONE INSIDE MUSEUM FOYER
- SOUNDBITE BJARKE INGELS, ARCHITECT:
“So the entire new part of the museum is fully inspired and built from the same materials that you would find in the historical buildings.
So you have the the brick floors that flow out from the two former hospital buildings and create this organic turn and unite the two buildings to create the museum”. - DRONE ABOVE MUSEUM
- CLAUS KJELD JENSEN STANDS IN EXHIBITION WITH QUEEN MARGRETHES II
- SOUNDBITE CLAUS KJELD JENSEN, DIRECTOR MUSEUM
“Well, there are two main stories in the museum. There is, of course, the story of about the German refugees coming here in the end of World War two, 250,000, the biggest amount of refugees we ever received. That’s one story. The other story is about refugees, about flight and refugees through the last hundred years coming to Denmark.”
- LADY LOOKS AT BOARD SHOWING REFUGEES
- SOUNDBITE CLAUS KJELD JENSEN, DIRECTOR MUSEUM CONT:
“If we do not dare taking up difficult issues and themes that are relevant for the day being the museums and not relevant, I hope the visitors will get a broader understanding of why people flee, how they flee, and how it affects people who have been refugees”. - PICTURE OF REFUGEES FROM MUSEUM
- SOUNDBITE CLAUS KJELD JENSEN, DIRECTOR MUSEUM CONT.
“I hope the visitors will get a broader understanding of why people flee, how they flee, and how it affects people who have been refugees”.
- QUEEN IS GIVEN SCISSOR BY CLAUS KJELD JENSEN, DIRECTOR MUSEUM
AND OPEN MUSEUM - INSIDE MUSEUM LADY LISTENING
- SYRIAN REFUGEE RAHIMA ABDULLAH SITTING IN EXHIBITION ROOM OF HER OWN ROOM SHE HIDE IN ESCAPING
- SOUNDBITE RAHIMA ABDULLAH, SYRIAN REFUGEE:
“I dag bliver flygtninge reduceret til tal. Man glemmer at bag begrebet flygtninge der der mennesker der har deres egne historier og fortælle, helt almindelige mennesker, der er blevet til flygtninge på grund af noget, de ikke selv har valgt.
Så jeg elsker dette sted fordi her ser vi de fortællinger, de levende fortællinger, der er, istedet for de tal, der altid fylder”.
(TRANSLATION:
“Today, refugees are being reduced to numbers. One forgets that behind the concept of refugees there are people who have their own stories to tell, quite ordinary people who have become refugees because of something they have not chosen themselves.
So I love this place because here we see the stories, the living stories that are, instead of the numbers that always fill”)
- OLD CINEMA ROOM PLAYING OLD ARCHIVE FILM WITH GYMNASTICS
- SOUNDBITE CLAUS KJELD JENSEN, DIRECTOR MUSEUM CONT.
“It was a city with the living quarters, barracks for big barracks for the living. There were big kitchens. There were theaters, schools, cinemas. There was a mayor’s office. There was a police station. There was a fire station. There were all the functions you would imagine to find in the big city.”
- FILM ARCHIVE OF THEATER PERFORMANCE STARTING WITH LADY DANCER.
- SOUNDBITE CLAUS KJELD JENSEN, DIRECTOR MUSEUM CONT.
“In this room, we have recreated the big theater that was in the refugee camp in Oxbow. There was a huge theater with 850 seats that had four shows. It gave four shows every day.” - FILM ARCHIVE FROM OKSBØL. CHILDREN RUNNING INTO HOUSE
- FILM ARCHIVE FROM OKSBØL. WOMEN TEACHING CHILDREN
- SOUNDBITE JÔRG BADER, FORMER REFUGEE IN OKSBØL 1945 TO 1949:
“My brother, two years older than I, he was hospitalized in this very building. The other wing of this building, and I remember visiting him there. - FILM ARCHIVE FROM OKSBØL IN HOSPITAL. CHILDREN GETTING VACCINATED
- SOUNDBITE JÔRG BADER, FORMER REFUGEE IN OKSBØL 1945 TO 1949 CONT.
“Well, it was good for us because the refugees were looked after. They were taken care of. They had accommodation. They found a safe place where they could live and contemplate how to start a new life, after the total collapse of the Third Reich and many, many families ruined, separated, destroyed. And for us, we got a chance to start a new life”. - FILM ARCHIVE FROM OKSBØL: WOMEN TEACHING GROUP OF WOMEN, HOW TO TAKE CARE OF A CHILD
- FILM ARCHIVE FROM OKSBØL: MAN TEACHING HOW TO BECOME A TAILOR
- EXHIBITION AREA WITH REFUGEE ARRIVAL AREA AND CAMP TODAY
PICTURES OF PEOPLE RECEIVING WITH SIGNS “Welcome to Denmark”, “Refugees”, “Welcome”, “UNHCR” - CLAUS KJELD JENSEN, DIRECTOR MUSEUM SHOWS THE QUEEN AROUND IN TODAY´S CAMP
- SPEECH HER MAJESTY QUEEN MARGRETHE II:
“Jeg har fulgt det på afstand, mens det blev til, men ingen af os havde troet at det skulle blive så sørgeligt aktuelt at tale om flygtninge og om flugt, men her står vi så nu”.
(TRANSLATION:
“I have followed it from a distance while it was being created, but none of us had thought that it would be so sadly topical to talk about refugees and about escape, but here we are now”) - EXHIBITION WITH REFUGEE PICTURES AND SOUND HER IN HEADSET BY VISITOR.
- SOUNDBITE RAHIMA ABDULLAH, SYRIAN REFUGEE CONT.:
“Nu har jeg været her i 6-7 år og opnået en større tilknytning til samfundet. Det mener jeg, at jeg har. Jeg taler dansk. Jeg har lige haft min sidste dag på Højskolen. Lige om lidt skal jeg videre, studere på Uni (ref. Universitetet).
Så jeg har den tilknytning, altså den store tilknytning til samfundet. På den måde føler jeg mig hjemme i Danmark”.
(TRANSLATION:
Now I have been here for 6-7 years and gained a greater connection to the community. I think I have. I speak Danish. I just had my last day at the College. Soon I will continue to study at Uni (ref. University).
So I have that connection, that is the great connection to society. That way I feel at home in Denmark”.
- FILM ARCHIVE FROM OKSBØL: GERMAN REFUGEES ARRIVING
- SOUNDBITE ROBERT HABECK, VICE-CHANCELLOR GERMANY
“Well, this exhibition very much points to personal memories of the refugees. So it’s very intense, very emotional. - EXHIBITION REFUGEE CAMP TODAY
- SOUNDBITE ROBERT HABECK, VICE-CHANCELLOR GERMANY CONT.:
“From a political side, all the questions of refugees, it’s very it’s very, very complicated from the personal side, just very, very easy.
We have to stop the wars and we have to help the people.” - EXHIBITION. FIGURE MAN SHOUTING ON WALL, REFUGEE CAMP TODAY IN THE BACK
- EXHIBITION. TEDDY BEAR FROM REFUGEE
- EXHIBITION. VARIOUS WOMEN LISTENING TO SOUND OF RAHIMA ABDULLAH, SYRIAN REFUGEE ABOUT HER ESCAPE
- EXHIBITION. SCULPTURE OF WOMEN LAYING FLOWERS ON GRAVE
SOUND OF RAHIMA ABDULLAH, SYRIAN REFUGEE ABOUT HER ESCAPE - WOMAN LOOKING ON BIG BOARD WITH NUMBERS OF REFUGEES
- SOUNDBITE BJARKE INGELS, ARCHITECT CONT.:
“A great way to preserve buildings is to find ways to blow new life into them and to deliver new relevance.” - DRONE MUSEUM FROM ABOVE
- DRONE MUSEUM FROM STEEL CONSTRUCTION WITH MAP OVER AREA
- DRONE MUSEUM CLOSE OVER ROUF
- VARIOUS CEMETERY WITH GERMANS
- DRONE MUSEUM HIGH UP INCLUDING FOREST AREA
END
Ekstra video soundbite with Robert Habeck, Vice-Chancellor Germany
(Natural German)
Lenght: 1.23
Fact:
- Attending the inauguration: HM The Queen, Vice-Chancellor of Germany Robert Habeck, Minister of the Interior and Housing Christian Rabjerg Madsen, German Minister for International Cultural Affairs Katja Keul and the museum’s architect, Bjarke Ingels.
- The German state and the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein as well as the municipality of Varde have provided extraordinary support for the construction of the museum.
- The exhibitions have been made possible with generous support from the Nordea Foundation, the Augustinus Foundation and the Jyllands-Postens Foundation, among others.
- 50 tonnes of Corten steel were used for the new building.
- The museum’s foyer is created from 110 glulam trusses, which together form the curved shape. No two of the 110 trusses are the same.
- The Oksbøl Refugee Camp was approximately four square kilometres and five miles in circumference.
- At its largest, the camp housed 35,000 refugees and was the size of Denmark’s fifth largest city.
- The museum opens to the public on 29 June.
Read more about FLUGT – Refugee Museum of Denmark at www.flugtmuseum.dk.
Links:
UNHCR refugee figures: