Hi, my name is Jonas. I study English, History and Bilingual Education to become a teacher at the University of Cologne.

My master’s thesis is entitled "South Africa’s 'Harlem‘. Apartheid and Forced Migration in Cape Town’s District Six.“ I did my research on that topic at the District Six Museum and other archives in Cape Town.

The cooperation with the University of the Western Cape allowed me to travel to the actual place where this process of forced migration was initiated and where the legacies of apartheid can still be seen and felt.

In fact, my stay here enabled me to have a detailed look at the history of District Six. I managed to do interviews with former residents of the area which was declared a “whites only”-area in 1966. Moreover, I had some interesting discussions with other researchers about the topic of forced removals in South Africa and listened to activists who are involved in the current process of land restitution.

But besides that, I also made two great new friends who made my time here very special and who opened up a whole new perspective on South African politics and history for me. In the turbulent times of (often violent) student and community protests, black economic empowerment (BEE), widespread corruption and a struggling ANC, we were never short of  topics for our intense discussions.