Franzia

For eleven years, the Russian deserter Dmitri O. has been fighting for a residence permit in Germany. He is threatened with 15 years in jail if he returns to Russia. But the Russian consulate refuses to give him the documents he needs to prove his desertion and the Bavarian authorities have been trying to get rid of him since he came to Germany 11 years ago. Because he does not have any papers, he cannot be deported for legal reasons. Thus he was placed in the Emigration Centre in Fürth, an institution with the official aim of forcing immigrants and refugees to leave the country “voluntarily” through restriction of liberty. Dimitri is free to walk only inside the city which becomes like an open jail. He isn’t allowed to work, he gets 40 Euros per month and must go back every night to sleep behind the bars of the centre. But the centre has fulfilled its purposes: Dimitri will never realise his childhood’s dream of going to France. He is deported to Russia on the 5th of May 2003. (DOK.fest München)