My Life Before Govanhill: Tom van den Hurk
From a multicultural tenement in Germany’s Ruhr Valley to the vibrant streets of Govanhill, historian and filmmaker Tom van den Hurk reflects on a life shaped by migration, identity, and the power of storytelling in our regular feature, My Life Before Govanhill, from Issue 17: Hidden Lives.
Photo: Tom Credit: Daniel Murray
Interview by Marzanna Antoniak | Photo by Daniel Murray
Where are your roots?
I was born and raised in an industrial area in Germany called the Ruhr but my ancestry is very multicultural: Polish, Dutch, Jewish and German. I grew up in a tenement in a predominantly Turkish neighbourhood very similar to Govanhill. I loved living there. It was a very busy and vibrant area with lots of Turkish shops and cafes.
What about your education?
In my secondary school there were 30 kids in my class and I think we had about 20 different nationalities. That introduced me to so many ways of thinking and seeing the world. I would be going to my friends' homes and eating food from Ghana, India, Poland and elsewhere. I remember I once went to my Indian friend’s home, the night before I watched a documentary where they said that it was rude in India to say ‘no’ if someone offers you food. My friend’s mum made spaghetti bolognese (which isn’t very Indian) and I was struggling with how spicy it was. She found it really bland and wanted to add more spices. I thought I had to say ‘yes’ to everything, so I did.
How did you end up in Scotland?
One of my school friends had family in Glasgow and when I was 15 I visited them here. I instantly fell in love with the city. Glaswegians are really warm-hearted and welcoming. People were curious about my background. Although I went to a multilingual high school, I couldn’t fully understand what Scottish people were saying, but they were singing to me and joking and I could understand that. I eventually moved to Scotland aged 18. At first I lived in Edinburgh but my dream was to move to Glasgow and to study filmmaking, so I did.
What about your working life?
After graduating from the School of Audio and Engineering Creative Media Institute in Glasgow, I made films. I’ve worked in all areas of the film industry including on really big productions, which I didn’t enjoy. Eventually I settled on documentaries. Real people and their stories were what really interested me. I did filmmaking and drama workshops with vulnerable youth and adults. I did it because I needed money but I quickly discovered I loved doing it. When you work with communities you get so much out of it and film is such a fantastic way to get people to rediscover the world around them.
Although I was gaining recognition for my work, including receiving some awards, I wanted a completely different challenge in life. I've been passionate about ancient history all my life and always wanted to become a historian. Brexit made me question a lot of things, and it was at that time I decided to fulfil my other dream and enrol into university. I graduated last year and soon after I started teaching antiquity at the University of Glasgow.
Do you feel connected to your cultural roots?
Growing up I had a difficult relationship with being German. Most of my friends were from other cultures, so I didn’t really understand what it was to be German. That was really messy. At that time it was still very shameful to be German because of our history. I have a Dutch surname and citizenship, so I’d always say I’m Dutch.
Then I moved to Scotland and I was German. I found it really strange because I didn’t really feel German. I had to become it because everybody else said I was. Now I feel like a German living in Scotland, but when I go back to Germany I feel Scottish. I appreciate when people are direct, but sometimes when I deal with people from Central Europe I’m shocked by how direct they can be because I’m not used to it any longer.
I remember when I first moved to Scotland and someone at work said to me: 'Tom, would you like to go and clean the toilet?' and I said ‘no’ because I didn’t really want to do it. I didn’t understand that they were actually telling me, not asking.
How do you feel in Govanhill?
In 2021 I moved in with my partner in Govanhill. I instantly liked it because it reminded me a lot of where I grew up. We lived just off Victoria Road and it was such a bustling place. We had really lovely Pakistani neighbours there and even though we live in a different part of Govanhill now, they still come and bring us food sometimes.
Govanhill gets a really bad reputation sometimes but I feel safe here. There is such a strong sense of community. It’s not just culturally diverse; the area is diverse in terms of education, socio-economic status, lifestyles, experiences, and interests. In Govanhill people embrace their differences whereas people living elsewhere might try to hide it.