Intertwined memory(s)? Traces of the Shoah and colonialism in the Berlin Palace and the ethnological collections 

Learning to read history

Examples of such traces may be visible or invisible. We can find them in the museum collections and exhibitions or even at the Humboldt Forum itself, in its location and reconstructed architecture. They may take the form of objects or the stories behind them: the sculpture of the Cameroonian Queen Mother Naya, for example, was already presented in a 1933 National Socialist propaganda exhibition on the recovery of “living space” in former colonies. It ended up in the collection through looting by the colonial officer von Putlitz in 1905. When it comes to the history of the place, it might be interesting to point out that the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science was based in the Berlin Palace. A notable member of its senate was the physician Eugen Fischer, whose writings contributed significantly to legitimising the racist and anti-Semitic policies of the Nazi state.

The project “Intertwined Memory(s)” revolves around the central question of how we can translate the recognition of difference into a social memory that promotes empathy and solidarity, and creates a space for pluralistic Jewish and postcolonial voices of the present.
 

CoMuse Podcast – #7 Intertwined Memories