Work and integration

The purpose of the project - Work and Integration is to tell about the emergence of the welfare state through immigrants' own stories, based on Ringsted.
In 1973, 5 Turkish families came by train to Ringsted. For them, it was a whole new world. Almost 50 years later, through 20 interviews, collections and memorial cafés, we have had the opportunity to tell the story of how norms and values ​​change over time.

Through a number of personal stories, Museum Vestsjælland tells immigration history at eye level. The result can be seen in the book HOME - stories from three generations of Turks in Ringsted

“I have inherited some sets of values ​​from the Danish school that I have pressured my parents with. My kids have learned something different. They are more freedom-seeking than I am. They have pressured me with that. ” (Informant, Turkish 2nd generation immigrant) In connection with the collection and documentation of immigrants' memories in the local area, Museum Vestsjælland has encountered new knowledge about the meeting between the generations. This gave rise to new perspectives on the concept of integration in relation to norms and values ​​and their development.

Integration is also something that happens in the relationship between children and parents. Eg. when 2nd generation immigrants defy parents' religious dogmas, or in the showdown with the tradition of arranged marriages and conservative family patterns. But it is also about teenage girls who are reflected in the girlfriends' beauty ideals in secret from the family. They themselves grow up and raise their own children in a completely different way than they themselves have experienced.

Integration and parenting: the role of children

The project has had very good contact with a large group of Turkish immigrants and their descendants in Ringsted. It has provided a unique opportunity to collect memories across generations. Here it turns out that it is especially in the meeting between children and parents that wrestling takes place.

The parent generation has worked hard to create a better starting point for the child generation. The adults who came to Denmark in the 70s had a hard time understanding the country they had come to. Many isolated themselves, but the children learned the language and culture. "I can help my daughter with her homework. My parents could not do that, ”says a descendant.

Over time, the children began to consider Denmark as their home. But the parents are still wandering. Every spring they return to the village in Turkey, but return to Denmark in the autumn.

Some Turkish guest workers stuck to old traditions from the village, such as arranging the children's weddings. A descendant tells how she married a man from Turkey whom she had never met. In time, she broke up the marriage and gained the support of her family for the divorce. She says that on the one hand she feels love for the culture of origin, but at the same time has also done away with the conservative values ​​of the parent generation: "My children must choose for themselves".