Logo of the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Logo of the exhibition "Home and Exile. Jewish Emigration from Germany since 1933" in the Jewish Museum Berlin

Alien Bolivia


On a street in Bolivia

"The hygienic conditions were catastrophic, the food was catastrophic. At the market the women sat on the ground, had their vegetables or whatever spread out in front of them. You gave the smallest package to an Indio boy who carried it along behind you, for a couple of cents - that was the going rate back then. The immigrants who didn't know any better came from the train station carrying their own suitcases. In the eyes of the upper class that put them in the "Indio category", and they would never be able to liberate themselves from this prejudice. They were the sort of people who carried their own things. Well, it was a completely different world, and it took a long time before you could halfway manage on your own."