[Re]presentations

From 2021 to 2024, a series of exhibitions were realized in various districts, exploring Berlin's colonial history and its repercussions up to the present day. The initiative's institutional partners include, in particular, district museums, with their characteristic openness to locally anchored civic engagement. The conceptualization and implementation of these projects were designed to draw on the experiences of curators, scholars, and artists with their own biographical connections to colonial history.

The First German Colonial Exhibition of 1896 in Berlin-Treptow

The Treptow-Köpenick Museums and the Dekoloniale Memory Culture in the City project have been presenting the fundamentally revised exhibition "Looking Back - The First German Colonial Exhibition of 1896 in Berlin-Treptow " since October 15, 2021. It is the first permanent exhibition on colonialism, racism, and Black resistance in a Berlin museum.

From May 1 to October 15, 1896, the "First German Colonial Exhibition" took place in Treptower Park. The major event involved politicians, businesspeople, and churches, as well as ethnological and scientific museums. As part of a discriminatory "ethnological exhibition," 106 people from the German colonies were put on display before an audience of millions. Most participants were unaware that they were being "exhibited" in Berlin to serve racist stereotypes and colonial fantasies. Many of them rebelled against the role assigned to them: Kwelle Ndumbe from Cameroon bought a pair of opera glasses and looked back at the audience in Berlin. The Colonial Exhibition of 1896 is a pivotal event in Berlin's global history and of particular significance for the history of its Black community.

The permanent exhibition "Zurückgeschaut | Looking Back" is dedicated to the history and repercussions of the First German Colonial Exhibition. It focuses on the 106 children, women, and men from Africa and Oceania, their biographies, and their resistance. It also clarifies the structure of the colonial exhibition and its historical context. The new exhibition is the result of close cooperation between the Treptow-Köpenick Museums and the Afro-diasporic and decolonial organizations of the Dekoloniale Memory Culture in the City project network. The redesign of "Zurückgeschaut | Looking Back" was created by Studio Visual Intelligence .

The Treptow Museum is located on the 2nd floor of the historic Johannistahl Town Hall, Sterndamm 102, 12487 Berlin.

Registration for public tours: museum@ba-tk.berlin.de

Opening hours: https://www.berlin.de/museum-t...

The exhibition opening took place on October 15, 2021. You can watch the opening, including a digital tour of the exhibition, here (at the bottom): https://www.dekoloniale.de/de/...

Migration to the colonial metropolis of Berlin

The FHXB Museum and the model project "Dekoloniale Erinnerungskultur in der Stadt" were showing the collaborative exhibition "DESPITE ALL: Migration to the Colonial Metropolis of Berlin" from 21 October 2022. The exhibition explored projects, debates and policies of migration to the colonial metropolis of Berlin. It focussed on the complex realities of life and resistance of the people who came to the city in a colonial context - despite racist discrimination and exclusion - and became Berliners.

As an imperial state, the German Empire was already developing into a migration society in the 19th century. Although immigration from colonised regions was not intended, people came to Berlin - especially from the German colonies. For these migrants, there were no consistent regulations on the right of residence or citizenship; however, many saw themselves as citizens of the German Empire. Without German citizenship, they were subject to arbitrary decisions by the authorities and always threatened with expulsion. Nevertheless, some stayed, built a life here and became part of Berlin society. The exhibition explores their stories, realities of life and resistance and highlights that Berlin was a colonial metropolis and migration society before and after Germany's formal colonial rule from 1884 to 1919.

The FHXB Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg Museum and the civil society project "Dekoloniale Erinnerungskultur in der Stadt" have researched, debated and designed this exhibition together. Those involved encourage a new look at Berlin, to understand colonialism and migration as inseparable components of our history and present.

Black Resistance and Global Anti-Colonialism in Berlin, 1919 - 1933

Berlin became a post-colonial metropolis in a largely colonial world: Migrants from former African colonies – which Germany had to renounce – remained in the city. Berlin attracted actors from African, Asian, and Arabic regions. They came from various colonial contexts and became politically active. They formed anti-colonial alliances, demanded independence for their countries of origin, and resisted against racism.

The anti-colonial Berlin was determined, revolutionary, and fleeting. It emerged from the many lives that crossed paths here. The individual motives, circumstances, and time spent in the city differed, yet they brought forth moments of solidarity. The Communist International (Comintern) played an important part in this as a shared political language, resource, and rallying point.

The anti-colonial Berlin unfolded in the political forcefield of the Weimar Republic, during the end of the monarchy and colonial rule, the ascent of communist internationalism and the rise of the National Socialists. It caused frictions and was anchored in everyday urban life, but at the same time its effect as a global movement reached far beyond the city.

This decolonial moment in Berlin’s history is retraced in this cooperative exhibit of Dekoloniale Memory Culture in the City and the Charlottenburg Wilmersdorf Museum. In line with Dekoloniale’s aims and position, there is a special focus on the actors from former German colonies in Africa as well as on the history of Black movements.

Decentralized exhibition at various locations in Berlin-Mitte

On November 14, 2024, the model project Dekoloniale Memory Culture in the City and the Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin will open their decentralized exhibition Dekoloniale – what remains?! It explores Berlin's centuries-long entanglement in the global history of slavery and colonialism and critically examines this violent past.

The exhibition features three significant sites of coloniality in Berlin-Mitte: the Museum Nikolaikirche, housing the tombs of colonial figures; the (post-)colonial memorial that is the Afrikanisches Viertel [African Quarter]; and the historical venue of the 1884/85 Berlin Conference on Wilhelmstraße 92. The exhibition goes beyond merely exposing the colonial racism embedded in these public spaces by overwriting it with the stories of resistance from African, Asian, and diasporic communities.