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The Oral History Series is a project of the Gerlind Institute for Cultural Studies, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the teaching and promotion of German Cultural Studies. We invite members from our community to share their life’s stories and dialogue with the audience, promoting cross-cultural understanding. All donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law. Visit our donations page, at www.gerlindinstitute.org for more information on donations. | ||||
| July 23, 2022 • Gerlind Institute for Cultural Studies • via ZOOM | ||||||
Honoring the Life of Ika Hügel-Marshall • March 13, 1947 – April 21, 2022 This oral history is to honor the life of Ika Hügel-Marshall. She was an influential voice in the Afro-German movement since the 1980s. We will be screening a slideshow/video about her life in both English and German.
Ika co-edited the book Enfernte Verbindungen: Rassismus, Antisemitismus, Klassenunterdrückung in 1983 and wrote her autobiography, Daheim unterwegs: ein deutsches Leben, in 1998, translated as Invisible Woman: Growing Up Black in Germany, for which she received the Audre Lorde Literary Award. Ika read from her book for the Gerlind Institute Oral History Series in 2007, and again in 2012, as part of the Berlin and Beyond Film Festival in San Francisco, in conjunction with the film, Audre Lorde – Die Berliner Jahre 1984 bis 1992 (Audre Lorde – The Berlin Years 1984-1992), for which she co-wrote the script with Dr. Dagmar Schultz and Ria Cheatom. Together with Dr. Schultz, she toured with the film, appearing at screenings around the world. She collaborated with Dr. Marion Kraft, the editor of Kinder der Befreiung, which was published in German in 2015, and in English as Children of the Liberation in 2020. In 2020, Ika was interviewed for the BBC Witness History series. You can see that interview here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08wt0gp In 2021 she co-edited a new book of May Ayim’s unpublished poetry, essays and interviews together with Nivedita Prasad and Dr. Dagmar Schultz. I After moving to Berlin, Ika offered self-defense/self assertion training for Black, Jewish, and immigrant women. She worked with the Orlanda Frauenverlag as a press agent and encouraged many Black Germans, especially women, to publish their work. In the 1990s, Ika and Dagmar led anti-racism workshops for white women. She and Dagmar were close friends with Audre Lorde and May Ayim. Ika completed an additional training in counseling with a focus on diversity. She offered workshops for white parents of Black children, and she counseled Afro-German women. Next to her work at Orlanda Frauenverlag and her counseling activities, Ika was a lecturer–one of the first Black teachers–at the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences in counseling. Together with May Ayim and Dagmar Schultz she engaged in a teaching/research project on eurocentrism at the Free University, the Technical University and the Alice Salomon University of Applied Sciences. Ika was an accomplished artist. An exhibition with Ika’s artwork will open June 17 at 6pm in the Begine – Treffpunkt und Kultur für Frauen e.V. in Berlin. Potsdamer Str. 139. |
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Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we have moved our in-person Oral History events to ZOOM. If you have any questions, or concerns, please contact JB at info@gerlindinstitute.org |
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Support Our Oral History Series!
2022 marks the fifteenth anniversary of the GICS Oral History Series, which has become the touchstone of our community programs. It grew from Dr. Gerlind’s passion for interviewing Holocaust survivors whose stories were at risk of being lost. Inspired by their lives, the Gerlind Institute continues to bring unforgettable speakers from in and outside our Bay Area community. We have witnessed their voices and stories, and have been transformed. We are incredibly grateful to every speaker, co-sponsor, and audience participant from the past ten years! Through the dedicated volunteer work of the Gerlind Institute team, especially JB, Loren Norman, and many others, GICS has hosted 56 Oral Histories since 2007—no small feat for a grassroots organization such as ours, which relies completely on community support! Despite all the work that goes into organizing each event, admission remains accessible, as we want everyone to participate. No one is turned away for lack of funds. The Series is primarily funded through income from the GICS memberships and donations. With the generosity of volunteers, participants and speakers—many of whom have donated their time and expertise—we have been able to sustain our Series.
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