Migration shapes Europe – yesterday, today and tomorrow. With Moving Europe, we highlight how differently people have experienced migration – and how deeply these stories are rooted in Europe’s colonial past. Because those who know the historical traces can better understand the impact they continue to have on different groups in our society today.

We want to make complexity more visible and leave simple black-and-white narratives behind. The project aims to challenge common stereotypes, prejudices and myths about migrants.

The two-year project Moving Europe – Negotiating Legacies of Migration at the Museum brings this approach to museums and schools. Since its launch in March 2025, the project partners have been launching projects that tell the story of migration as living history: young people research migration stories on their doorsteps, develop podcasts, design exhibitions and curate a trans-European collection. This creates a learning space that is both locally rooted and internationally inspired. The Local Youth Programme takes place in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, Germany, Italy and Sweden.

We wish to promote:

• Young people actively shaping the future – with a focus on research, creativity, and reflection.
• Museums as places of learning – beyond exhibitions, as spaces that stimulate thought, dialogue, and empathy.

Results we are looking forward to: international peer learning events for teachers and museum staff, local youth programmes with exhibitions, museum residencies, research and education on migration myths, and the publication of a freely accessible practical guide for teachers.

In addition to young people, the programme is also aimed at schools and museums, in particular teachers, educators and other museum professionals such as curators who are interested in strengthening educational projects on the topic of migration.

Our partners on this project are: EuroClio, University of Hildesheim (Migration Lab), Museum of Italian Emigration in Genoa, Emigration Museum in Gdynia, History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo, Migration Museum of Denmark in Farum, Multicultural Center in Stockholm.

Local Youth Programme in Berlin

We will kick off the programme in September 2025 as part of the Local Youth Programme, together with the Stadtmuseum Berlin and pupils from the Wilhelmstadt school in Berlin. During the workshop at the museum’s Spandau depot, which houses the collections ‘Arts of Migration’, ‘Varieté’, ‘Everyday Life and Culture’ and a collection of paintings on the theme of migration, the young people will select a small number of items and, through engagement with the objects, decipher their history and the environment and society from which they originate.

They will learn about the workings of a museum from the inside: in conversation with museum experts, they will find out how an exhibition is created, what questions play a role in the process and what narratives are served by the selection of objects on display. At the end, they will have the opportunity to try their hand at it themselves.

The project is co-funded by the European Union.