Utopia – Revisiting a German State in America is the story of The Giessen Emigration Society, a group of five-hundred German emigrants who arrived in Missouri in 1834. This true story, as shared by the Traveling Summer Republic, a group of German film makers, writers, photographers, designers, musicians and historians, marks the beginning of  Missouri’s huge German heritage.

Relative to today’s story of America’s immigrants, we learn that the story of today’s emigrant has not changed. The issues of freedom, democracy, political struggles, and a desperate desire at any cost, for a better life for one’s family, is striking in its similarity for today. The legacy of what this influx of emigrants has meant to the history and heritage of St. Louis is amazing.

The exhibition uses the theme of movement throughout, as shipping crates open and become display cases, and huge murals allow you to step into the original scenes in both Germany and the U.S.. Follow their stories, as the videos, oral histories, and interviews take you deeper and deeper into the story. Discover Utopia and Missouri’s German heritage.

The exhibition Utopia – Revisiting a German State in America is accompanied by a documentary and book by the same name.

COMES TO THE UNITED STATES NEXT

WASHINGTON, DC   On September 6,  2014 the Utopia exhibit will open at the German-American Heritage Foundation’s museum,  Hockemeyer Hall in Washington, D.C.. For more information on the German-American Heritage Foundation visit http://gahmusa.org/about.php