ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects on the literary and cinematic translations of Aras Ören. Göktürk suggests the concept of “intermedial solidarity” to analyze Ören and Friedrich W. (Fritz) Zimmermann’s television film Frau Kutzer und andere Bewohner der Naunynstraße [Frau Kutzer and Other Residents of Naunynstraße] based on Ören’s epic poem on Kreuzberg, Was will Niyazi in der Naunynstraße [What is Niyazi up to in Naunynstraße]. This essay analyzes the movie as a criticism of West Germany’s “economic miracle” resting on the shoulders of guest workers in particular, and of capitalism in general. Even though the experiences of the Turkish and German families differ, the film exposes the system that exploits both communities. Fittingly, both the poem and the film end on declarations of solidarity by Turkish workers addressing their German co-workers in a factory. Göktürk finds in this solidarity—both intermedial and international—an offering of seeds of hope for the ongoing problems of our present.
