As interest in the history of German Vietnamese relations since the 1950s has gathered momentum, this essay explores how contemporary art and literature have played a key role in representing the different strands of this history. These range from the German Democratic Republic’s employment of contract workers, to the Federal Republic of Germany’s granting of asylum to refugees from the Vietnam War, and xenophobic attacks on Vietnamese communities after Germany’s reunification in 1990. This essay focuses on two recent works whose form and content have been prominent in providing a more nuanced understanding of German Vietnamese relations to wider international audiences: Khuê Phạm’s novel, Brothers and Ghosts (2020/2024), and Sung Tiêu’s multimedia exhibition, One Thousand Times (2023/2024). Drawing attention to how Phạm and Tiêu shift beyond identity discourses and biographical accounts, this essay argues that they develop a mode of narrational and visual revisitation. The history of German Vietnamese relations, in their works, is dissected to show the powerful interplay of national agendas, bureaucracies, economic pursuits, and familial ties in shaping lived experiences.