Interkulturelles Forschungsinstitut Deutschland-Mexiko  e.V. [German-Mexican Intercultural Research Institute] Instituto de Investigaciones Interculturales Germano-Mexicanas, A.C. I.I.I.

Logo Interkulturelles Forschungsinstitut Deutschland-Mexiko  e.V. [German-Mexican Intercultural Research Institute]

Interkulturelles Forschungsinstitut Deutschland-Mexiko  e.V. Instituto de Investigaciones Interculturales Germano-Mexicanas, A.C. I.I.I.

Calle Dr. Navarro 60 Edif. 10-401

06720 Colonia Los Doctores, Mexico D.F.

Interkulturelles Forschungsinstitut Deutschland-Mexiko  e.V. [German-Mexican Intercultural Research Institute]
Instituto de Investigaciones Interculturales Germano-Mexicanas, A.C.

I.I.I.

The I.I.I. was founded in Mexico City in October 1987 by a group comprising academics and exiles who had remained resident in Mexico. The objective of the organisation was to carry out research into the history of Mexico as a place of German-speaking exile – the institute intended to enrich existing sources of information while also collecting and assessing new material on the subject. As such, a range of former exiles who had remained stationed in Mexico were interviewed and incorporated into a wide-scale information exchange. The results were to be made available to an interested public, in both the Spanish and German languages. So as to achieve this goal, the institute has carried out an extensive publicity program over the years, consisting of information evenings, discussions, readings, book presentations, publications, exhibitions and film viewings. An international colloquium was organised in 1993 to broaden the dimensions of the projects. The transcriptions of these sessions (von Hanffstengel/Tercero/Wehner, ed. Mexiko, das wohltemperierte Exil/ México, el exilio bien temperado. México 1995, I.I.I.), which are supplemented by a comprehensive set of photos from the event, act as a detailed and valuable account of the proceedings. In addition, the I.I.I. has undertaken projects charting the lives of notable German and Austrian immigrants – in addition to important researchers and artists that passed through Mexico – who have made a particular impact in the field of the arts and early American culture. These include Teobert Maler, Eduard Seler and Caecilie Seler-Sachs, Mathias Goeritz and B. Traven, amongst others. These figures have also been the subject of exhibitions and published works.

The activities of the I.I.I. also extend to international collaborations. A photographic exhibition dedicated to the work of the almost-forgotten Cologne exile Hans Gutmann (or Juan Guzmán) was held by the I.I.I. in the photographer’s home city in 1995/96, while the institute also organised an exhibition on the career of Walter Reuter, another exiled photograher who settled in Mexico. Reuter’s photos of the Spanish Civil War were put on display in the Goethe Institute in Madrid. In 1996, the institute held an exhibition in Mexico to honour the New York exile newspaper Aufbau in the presence of the publication’s chief editor Dr. Gertrude Schneider, who journeyed from the US capital to attend the proceedings.

The I.I.I. does not benefit from a fixed revenue stream nor is it attached to a sponsor organisation. The financing of at times very costly projects has been made possible, on a project-by-project basis, by the support of German entities such as the German Embassy of Mexico and the Goethe Institute, in addition to the help of several Austrian bodies, Mexican art and culture organisations and the State University of Mexico (UNAM). Another crucial factor is the voluntary work of I.I.I. members and UNAM’s students of German studies.

Over the years, the I.I.I. has amassed a considerable wealth of materials: interview recordings, photographs, a valuable collection of magazines and books and copies of important documents. The latter were mostly passed on to the institute by the daughter of the Consul General Gilberto Bosques. The materials are not only used for the purposes of the institute’s own research and publications, they are also made widely available to students and academics in Mexico and other countries. New research findings have been published in Mexico, Germany and the United States and have been presented on the international stage at numerous congresses. Personal consultations and the provision of information for individuals with an interest in the field have always been and still remain an important aspect of the institute’s work. The group has been able to provide financial support for a number of research projects and for academic meetings of students and professors.

In 1993 the I.I.I. commissioned a well-established sculptor to create a bust of the Mexican Consul General Gilberto Bosques. The German-speaking exiles whom he rescued from France and brought to Mexico contributed financial donations for the work as a very special way of showing their gratitude. The bust was presented at a commemorative ceremony in the Institute for the Right of Asylumin the Leon Trotsky Museum in Mexico City.

PUBLICATIONS OF THE I.I.I.

Bellinghausen, Hermann: Die Wette und Sonstiges mehr – Al filo de varia invención, Übers. Renata von Hanffstengel, 1999

Bi-Anuarios. Zweijahreshefte, 1989-1999, 5 Hefte

Dolinski, Eckehard: Caecilie Seler-Sachs 1855-1935. Una mirada amorosa al México de hace 100 años, Katalog zur Ausstellung, 1998

Hanffstengel, Renata von. Los árboles mueren de pie – Bäume-Bilder-Blätter, 1987

Hanffstengel, Renata von, Cecilia Tercero Vasconcelos (Hg.): Encuentros gráficos 1938-1948. Artistas europeos en el Taller de Gráfica Popular. Begegnungen in der Grafik 1938-1948. Europäische Künstler in der Grafikerwerkstatt TGP in Mexiko, 1999

Hanffstengel, Renata von, Cecilia Tercero, Silke Wehner-Franco (Hg.): México, el exilio bien temperado, 1995

Hanffstengel, Renata von, Cecilia Tercero (Hg.): Mexiko, das wohltemperierte Exil, 1995

Hanffstengel, Renata von, Cecilia Tercero (Hg.): Textos e imágenes de la exposición en homenaje al Embajador Gilberto Bosques 1892-1995, Ausstellungskatalog, 2011

Hanffstengel, Renata von, Cecilia Tercero (Hg.): Eduard y Caecilie Seler: sistematización de los estudios americanistas y sus repercusiones, in Ko-Edition mit CONACULTA, EON, INAH, CONACULTA, 2003

Rivera Ochoa, María Clotilde: Estudio de la revista FREIES DEUTSCHLAND, órgano de difusión del movimiento Alemania Libre en México 1941-1946, 1987

Seler, Eduard und Caecilie Seler-Sachs: Cartas de viaje desde México, Übers. Gerardo Álvarez, Revision Renata von Hanffstengel u. Cecilia Tercero. Orginaltitel: Reisebriefe aus Mexiko. Berlin 1889, Ko-Edition UNAM, 2008