Das rote Haus

Das Rote Haus” illuminates the stories of women who came to Berlin as migrant workers in the 1960s and 1970s. At the center are four old friends who reunite at the Wonaym station after more than 20 years. Their gathering is shaped by memories and conflicts, as one of them brings an urn that symbolizes their deceased friend, who preserved their shared experiences.

Using the Kreuzberg residence “Wonaym” as a starting point, where many of these women were accommodated – including a floor rented by the Telefunken company for well-educated women from Turkey – Mondtag demonstrates that these women do not fit the prevailing image of migrants as uneducated and impoverished.

As the friends engage with their past, they unexpectedly discover that they have stepped through a door into the year 1968, during the time of the student protests. This journey confronts them not only with significant historical events but also with their own life stories, choices, and the joyful moments that shaped their dreams and social encounters.

Mondtag’s picture theater creates a utopian-melancholic old age home and encourages a questioning of which narratives remain in the collective memory and which are overlooked. At the same time, the celebration of life, joy, and the happy moments of these women are brought to the forefront. Witnesses, now over 70 years old, appear on stage alongside the Gorki Ensemble, which plays their younger alter egos.