Hundreds of thousands of people fled to Germany in 2015. This situation was extraordinary not only in terms of numbers, but also in its media visibility: for the first time, many escape routes were documented directly — not by film crews or news broadcasters, but by the refugees themselves. For many people fleeing, the mobile phone was and remains an indispensable tool for organizing their journey. At the same time, it allows them to preserve memories of what they left behind and to capture their flight in images. 

Countless clips spread across social networks at the time — not reporting on flight, but emerging from within it, up close and without distance. #MyEscape has gathered these perspectives. The phone videos from Mohammed from Syria, Toba from Afghanistan, and Wedi from Eritrea tell of their homeland, their departure, the various stages of their journey, their arrival in Germany, and finally their first impressions here. In extensive interviews, they comment on their own footage. The result is a striking, up-close portrait of people in search of safety.