It was the 1960s, barely 20 years from the German holocaust (a genocide of 6 million Jews), when Chinnamma, Sosamma, Grace, Theresa and 5,000 other Malayali girls migrated to Germany to pursue nursing. Those were the days when Germany was synonymous with Nazi and Adolf Hitler. With only SSLC as qualification and hardly 16 years of age, these young girls were in a sole resolve to uplift their families. As Germany had a dearth of helping hands in their hospitals, it was an endeavour initiated by the church of Germany. The Bishops in Kerala pushed the envelopes and made the conservative families to comply to their request. It has been more than 50 years since the girls bid good bye to their homeland today but the indelible reminiscences of Kerala is what keeps them going still. They were called the ‘brown angels’ by the German media for their selfless deeds.
On her occasional visits to Deutschland, Shiny Jacob Benjamin, an award winning documentary maker, got a sneak peek at the lives of these women who left their families and friends at a tender age. Shiny lapped up the theme immediately for her next project. Acclaimed Malayalam writer Paul Zacharia, whom Shiny met in Germany at many occasions, offered to pen the script for her documentary. Thus born ‘Translated lives – a migration revisited’.
“The fact that these girls left for Germany at the age of 15 or 16 just after their SSLC is what attracted me to the subject. At a time when girls were not allowed to even set foot beyond their school or home, these girls were sent off to an alien land. I believe it is also the first women migration ever happened in the history of migration. They had no idea of Germany when they decided to go, no education to back them up and the language barrier was even worse. Except their resilience, they had nothing but they survived,” says Shiny.
‘Translated lives’ is a beautiful take on women migrants, who built their lives from the scratch in a foreign country. They embraced German culture and traditions, while remaining staunch Malayalis. By delving deep into the myriad facets of their lives - from migration to racism to children - Shiny is translating the years of hardships and identity crises they had endured on screen. From finding the right life partner to making their children understand their culture, these women had a hard time accepting they may not go back to Kerala at all. But there are some who say Germany is better than Kerala to while away old age. The documentary also discusses how these brown-skinned women found their way to the fair-skinned Germans’ hearts. There are many who settled down with Germans who accepted them for what they are. But the Malayali husbands, who married them for their money and German Visa, had a hard time coping with the wife’s job. They had to do the household chores and look after the children when the wives did their shifts at the hospital. The women recall their initial struggles in funny anecdotes that make the audience laugh and think alike. Their children who had adapted to German lifestyle like duck to water, do not want to marry from Kerala or have anything to do with it.
“As I have been in constant touch with the Malayali community in Germany, I got to know about the migration factor. Entirely spearheaded by women, the migration has a historical relevance. No one has ever tried to explore it. But this group of teenage women were the first ones who started the Malayali diaspora in Europe. This was quite interesting to unearth,” says Paul Zacharia.
The documentary was screened at Hotel Hycinth on Monday in a function attended by German Consul General Jörn Rohde, D Babu Paul IAS and PC Vishnunath MLA. Bredeena, who featured in the documentary was also present.