Controversial Kinship
Colonial and National Socialist Violence
Pei Building, Basement
What do colonial and Nazi violence have in common? How do they differ? And why has the question of a possible connection between the two remained controversial to this day? Since the 1930s, questions such as these have been debated by anti-colonial thinkers, journalists, politicians, historians, and Holocaust survivors. The exhibition "Controversial Kinship: Colonial and National Socialist Violence" examines a historical comparison that has been debated for nearly a century and extends far beyond the discipline of history. As the first exhibition in the world devoted to this subject, "Controversial Kinship" traces the debate over similarities, differences, and equivalence back to its historical origins. The museum’s aim is to promote a more nuanced discussion of the topic and enable visitors to assess such comparisons for themselves on the basis of historical evidence.
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Picture: Clearing of land by setting grass on fire during a German research expedition to Tendaguru in German East Africa (now Tanzania), 1909–1913, Photographer: Edwin Hennig or Werner Janensch © Berlin, Museum für Naturkunde, K 002, 414.