A two-part radio documentary by Yula Altchouler

“Have I lost a part of myself in the
process of successfully adapting?”

25 years ago, a group of refugee children performed on stage during a storytelling festival. They could choose any story to tell. One of them, Yula, is looking up the others. Together they go back in time while listening to the recordings of the performance. What were the stories they told at the time? What have their lives been like? And what are their stories today?

“Our Success Story” is a diptych about integration in the Netherlands.

"There was no school at the asylum seekers centre. So when we came to Amsterdam, all of a sudden, I had to go to school." We hear a creaky recording, a soft girl's voice. She sounds streetwise, with a slight Amsterdam accent. “It was the first time the teacher asked me something, in English, because I did not speak Dutch at the time. I don't remember what it was she asked me, but I remember immediately standing up next to my desk. I stood up because, in Russia, you were to stand up out of respect for the teacher. Oh, right, shit, they don't do that here. And I still do things like that, really. Doing certain things the Russian way."

Yula Altchouler, the director of *Our Success Story.*

When she was 11 years old, Yula Altchouler and her parents fled the Soviet Union and came to the Netherlands. Four years later, in 1994, she and other refugee children took part in a performance during the 'Storytelling Festival'. The play was first performed at ‘De Balie’ (a debate centre in Amsterdam) and then travelled the whole country. The children could tell any story they wanted. An Iranian boy told an ancient myth, a stowaway from Liberia told the story of his first day in the Netherlands, a young girl from Yugoslavia told a fairy-tale. And Yula told a story from her own life. Somehow, dusty cassettes with the recordings of the performance were saved.

Presentation

Just like today, in the 1990s people spoke of a refugee crisis. Now, three decades later, no one talks about the refugees of those days any more. Although, at the time, there was much debate about their coming here and their integration, an item in the national news broadcast recently showed how successfully this generation of refugee children have integrated. More than 25 years later, Yula looks up the other children from the play: What have their lives been like?

In the two-part radio documentary 'Ons Succesverhaal' (Our Success Story), we hear the children of those days - Sahand, Petra, Alberto, Abou, and Yula herself - tell their stories and, together with them, we listen to their younger selves. Through their own voices, we get the chance to experience first-hand, what it's like to be a refugee child growing up in the Netherlands.

The four protagonists: Petra (top left), Alberto (top right), Sahand (bottom left), and Anne (bottom right).

The price of success

All the children of those days are now in their thirties or forties. A rush hour in life, with growing children, taking care of aging parents and building careers. It's also a time where many are rethinking what is important in life. The world is no longer at your feet, and you have had enough experience to look back on. How do the children of those days look back on the play? What were the stories they told at the time? And what does the story you tell, say about who you are or who you want to be? We cut back and forth between the recordings of then and now. Between childhood and adulthood, between the dreams they had then and the reality of today. Are they, indeed, all a success story? And at what cost have they been successful?

In episode 1, Yula tracks down the others while also being confronted with her own younger self.

In episode 2, we arrive in the present, and the children of those days see each other again for the first time. What role does the old story play in their lives today?

Our Success Story has been nominated for the Prix Europa 2021.

Listen to the ‘Our Success Story’ here.

Credits