Migration Exhibition at the German Museum of the 21st Century

Abstract

This paper critically analyzes the migration exhibition of the German Museum of Modern History. In German society, which is facing demographic problems such as population decline and aging, the number of people with immigration and migration backgrounds is increasing, approaching 30% of the German population. As a result, Germany without migrants today cannot be als well imagined as existed. However, despite the reality, the Museum of Modern History in Germany still remains in a space where the narratives of one country's history centered on the nation-state are displayed. Museums exhibiting 21st-century modern history, which feature mobility and hybridity, are being asked to abandon the national state paradigm, but no significant change has yet been made. In this regard, the presentation says that Korean society, which is moving in a demographic similar direction to Germany and has a faster pace of change, needs to use Germany's migration policy as a teacher. Entering the early stages of a migration society, Korea already relies on migrants in the problems of insufficient labor and marriage of rural men, and it seems unlikely that this trend will weaken due to population cliffs and aging population.