With the reopening of the Permanent Exhibition<\/a> on 1 July 2020 the Deutsches Historisches Museum (DHM) is presenting a new section on Germany\u2019s colonial history. In the face of the intensive discussions about German colonial history and the controversies about the way museums have dealt with the colonial legacy, it was important for the DHM to revise this section even before the Permanent Exhibition is soon to be closed for a general renovation. Dr Stephanie Neuner, head of the Permanent Exhibition, describes the approach to this new presentation, which she sees as a first step in a further revision of a future Permanent Exhibition:<\/strong><\/p>\n Our new section of the exhibition on German colonialism between 1880 and 1914 replaces the previous, heavily criticised<\/a><\/a> presentation of Germany\u2019s colonial past. On a surface area of around 100 square metres it sheds light on the topics of \u201cEconomy and Global Trade\u201d, \u201cColonial Contact Zones and Societies\u201d, \u201cDomination and Violence\u201d and \u201cThe Colonial Wars: Self-assertion, Resistance and Genocide\u201d. It focuses primarily on the former German colonies in Africa. A separate chapter is also devoted to the German trading colony in imperial China, the Kiautschou Bay Concession.<\/p>\n Our research of the DHM\u2019s own collections and our correspondence with external historians and museum experts clarified one aspect in the preparatory phase: the new section cannot present a final result, but will provide an initial discussion basis for revisions in the DHM and for its diverse audiences. The aim is to enter into an open, concerted discussion about German colonial history and its (re-)presentation in the museum.<\/p>\n The central starting point of this confrontation with the past are the objects themselves in our collections, which we are re-examining for the new exhibition sequence with respect to what they demonstrate, where they come from, and in what contexts they were collected and exhibited.<\/p>\n Encounter with African representations of a European officer and an askari (African soldier in the German troops) in the thematic area \u201cColonial Contact Zones and Societies\u201d \u00a9 Deutsches Historisches Museum\/David von Becker<\/p><\/div>\n Objects in the stocks of the DHM that are thematically connected with German colonial history tend to reflect the \u2013 often derogatory and racist \u2013 perspectives of the colonisers on the people and cultures of the colonised areas in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. In other words, they transmit the stereotypical colonial images that were globally circulated around 1900 and passed on to following generations, up to the present day.<\/p>\n The decorated packaging of cocoa or soap as well as toys reveal how racist perceptions attracted a large customer base. Appealingly designed, such everyday colonial articles and consumer products block out the conditions under which they were produced; their visual effectiveness and imagery distort and embellish the reality of German colonial policy. Because these objects do not tell the whole story or tell a separate story detached from reality, they will be juxtaposed in the section on \u201cEconomy and Global Trade\u201d with the violent and still unreconciled destruction of African cultural and economic formations as a result of colonial policies.<\/p>\n The collections\u2019 singular objects of African or Chinese origin tell us through the history of their acquisition \u2013 as far as it is known \u2013 more about the motives of the European collectors and their interpretation of the objects than about the actual contexts in which they came into being and were utilised, or about the significance ascribed to them by the indigenous societies. It will be our task in future to examine the colonial objects held in our museum in greater depth in order to learn how to interpret and exhibit them suitably and to communicate their relevance. This requires a dialogue with scholars and curators from the countries of the former German colonies.<\/p>\n Entrance to the new exhibition section on the theme \u201cEconomy and Global Trade\u201d; on the left the historical showcase of the Berlin department store Wertheim with colonial consumer products \u00a9 Deutsches Historisches Museum\/David von Becker<\/p><\/div>\n The objects in the collections are material evidence in which the perspectives of the colonisers are inscribed. Despite or precisely because of their ambivalence they are key sources through which to gain a critical understanding of German colonial history and its repercussions. They are persuasive illustrations of the self-understanding of the colonisers as civilisers and rulers; they open a view to individual, often contradictory rapprochements and conflicts with the indigenous societies. This shows us how necessary it is to learn to interpret the imagery of colonial photography and to reflect on it in its historical context, and to consider how these preconceived images and their stereotypes were disseminated. At the turn of the 20th<\/sup> century numerous postcard motifs were circulated around the world \u2013 images of idyllic retreats in the Pacific islands and of their inhabitants, but also pictures of violence against people in the colonies.<\/p>\n![\"Encounter](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Kolonialismus_DvB-33.jpg\")
New perceptions of colonial objects<\/h3>\n
![\"Entrance](\"\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Kolonialismus_DvB-4.jpg\")
Getting ambivalent objects to speak for themselves<\/h3>\n