With this project, the two organizations wanted to make a positive contribution to the discussion of relations between Austria and Turkey in contemporary history. The explicit aim was to honor the stories of those people who migrated to Austria from the 1960s onwards as so-called guest workers and contributed in many ways to the so-called "economic miracle". In carrying out the project, we wanted to promote dialog between the generations, as we deliberately invited young adult learners from the Turkish community (mostly from the so-called third generation) to engage with the history of their ancestors who migrated to Austria and to develop suitable methods for this. The Turkish partner, on the other hand, also started with young adults as learners and confronted them with the stories of the migration movements between Turkey and Austria 50-60 years ago in order to raise awareness of this important chapter in their country's history.
In this project, the Xenia association in Bludenz, together with a partner from Turkey, wanted to document an important chapter in contemporary Austrian-Turkish history. It concerns the biographies of those people who came to Austria as so-called "guest workers" from the 1960s onwards. The stories of these migrants of the remaining generations are a valuable part of the intangible cultural heritage of the town and region of Bludenz, but they have received too little attention in the region's cultural work to date and also in publications and initiatives such as exhibitions. The cooperation with a Turkish partner was intended to counteract this situation. In turn, the project was primarily concerned with sensitizing young adult learners to an important topic of Turkish contemporary history and Austrian-Turkish relations. The project met the needs of both organizations for a scientifically sound and yet broad-based examination of the phenomenon of "migration", which was primarily intended to promote dialogue between the generations.