Nature and German History. Faith – Biology – Power

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What do we mean when we talk about “Nature”? This question has sparked a wide range of responses throughout German history. Religious and political movements as well as governments have laid claim to the term. In the new exhibition the Deutsches Historisches Museum shows how “Nature” was understood and defined in different ways and at different times as it was caught up in the complex interplay of faith, biology, and power and put to use for political aims. Here the scintillating, multi-layered concept of “Nature” is explored in its historical breadth and depth.

From 14 November 2025 to 7 June 2026, the exhibition “Nature and German History. Faith – Biology – Power” looks back on examples spanning 800 years of German history. Starting with Hildegard of Bingen’s concept of divine “greening power” in the 12^th century, curator Julia Voss traces the changing concepts of nature up to divided Germany, to environmental policy, and to the early anti-nuclear movement in the 1970s. 

Raphael Gross, President of the Stiftung Deutsches Historisches Museum: “The question of how to define the term ‘natural’ became increasingly important on the political stage and went hand in hand with the up- or downgrading of persons, groups, states, or nations. The rules and norms that were to be established were glorified as ‘natural’. It therefore seems important to us to keep asking what has been understood by ‘nature’ in the course of German history – and with what consequences. I hope that our historical view of this central concept in German history will enable us to broaden our current discussions by adding an important perspective: one that is easily overlooked when everything associated with ‘nature’ is forced into either a conservative or progressive, left-wing or right-wing ideological schema.”

Julia Voss, curator of the exhibition: “Concepts of ‘nature’ have repeatedly taken on new and different forms throughout history: in paintings, globes, maps, books, models, photographs, and films. We have brought together objects from the last 800 years. We hope that the exhibition will inspire visitors to ask themselves what nature means to them.”

Starting with a prologue, visitors follow a path through the historical stages that marked the different manifestations of this concept. In five chronologically arranged rooms, different stations offer glimpses into events and developments when the concept of nature was markedly changed or reshaped. Each station is introduced by an animal or a plant. The exhibition focuses on different landscapes: the cultivated fields of the Middle Ages, the decimation caused by the Thirty Years’ War, the mythification of the “German Forest” in the 19^th century, and the Lausitz moonscapes left over from opencast mining in the GDR in the 20^th century. 

The exhibition opens on the works of the abbess and Benedictine nun Hildegard of Bingen. Central to her theology was the concept of “Greening Power” (viriditas in Latin), a divine force that was to restore and strengthen the freshness of the natural world. For the visionary nun, “Nature” was Creation – the universe, all living things, the rocks and rivers. Konrad von Megenberg shared this belief in his “Book of Nature” from the 14th century, which is considered the first systematic German-language compendium of created nature. Late medieval fishery in Lake Constance provides an example of a successful cooperative “commons” when the authorities and fisherman joined forces in making rules to share and preserve the fish stocks.

The movements of the planets described by the astronomer Johannes Kepler, the “potato orders” issued by Prussian King Friedrich II, or the eruption of the Indonesian volcano Tambora that ushered in the “Year Without a Summer” in 1816 are examples of how the understanding of a regularity of nature subject to divine laws could come about under conditions of war, crop failures, and epidemics, and then be systematically researched and harnessed as functional resources in the Early Modern Age.

In the 19^th century, “nature” became a key concept for political movements. Ernst Haeckel, the famous zoologist and proponent of the theory of evolution, named, not unwittingly, a new species after Reich Chancellor Otto von Bismarck – “Alacorys bismarckii”. The microscopic organisms of the Radiolaria group had been fished out of the Western Pacific. The establishment of the first government agencies for the protection of endangered “natural monuments” illustrates how nature and culture were increasingly seen as antitheses in the course of the Industrial Revolution. Politics, society and science fought over what was to be considered “natural”. The pedagogue Friedrich Fröbel saw nature as the best teacher of mutual cooperation and founded in 1840 a new institution: the kindergarten. At first the Prussian government imposed a ban: this “natural” education of children seemed to be too revolutionary, too “aesthetic”. 

No German political movement was as obsessed with the idea of creating a standard for “German nature” as National Socialism. The exhibition shows how populations and landscapes were forcibly subjected to this ideological concept of nature from 1933 on. The “Nuremberg Laws” and the “Reich Nature Conservation Act” referenced each other and were both enacted in 1935.

In the 1970s, it became evident that the two German states were increasingly affected by the consequences of industrial livestock production, intensive farming of the land, and air pollution. They reacted with a new word: “Umweltschutz”, environmental protection. The exhibition concludes with one of the first democratic movements for the protection of nature: the citizens of the region around Wyhl protested against the construction of a nuclear power plant, thus becoming a model for political movements ranging from Japan to the USA. At the same time, the first dedicated department of environmental protection was established under FDP politician and Interior Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher.

Around 250 exhibition objects illustrate the debates and stages of transformation of the concept of nature. Current video interviews with historians like David Blackbourn, Nils Franke, Annette Kehnel, Ulinka Rublack, Veronika Settele, and Nikolaus Wachsmann throw light on the various interpretations of nature as displayed in the exhibition rooms. 

Although the discussions in times of climate change tend to focus on environmental protection, the exhibition wants to go beyond the current fixation on the semantic meaning of “Nature” and to concentrate on the constant changes in nature concepts in the course of German history. In this way, the current debates should be enriched through the rear-view mirror of historical perspective.

The exhibition is designed to be inclusive and barrier-free. Multisensory and interactive stations supplement the topics and involve the visitors in the discussions. The effect of plant fragrances once described by Hildegard of Bingen can be tested at one of the stations. Children can follow a trail through the exhibition and family tours invite our young guests to think about nature. An audio guide in German and English offers background information about selected objects. 

The exhibition architecture functions as a test run for sustainable exhibiting. As many materials as possible from earlier shows have been used in the new exhibition. Most of the objects are from the DHM’s own collections. Loans from museums and archives throughout Germany have been bundled to save unnecessary shipments. 

A richly illustrated German-language volume, published by Matthes & Seitz Berlin, contains scholarly essays and interviews with historians as well as historical recipes. The digital DHM format “More Story” provides an introduction to the exhibition in German and English and offers detailed background interviews and information. Accompanying the exhibition is a wide range of events including guided walks, tandem tours through the exhibition, and a film programme in the Zeughauskino.

Press photos are available in the Press Section of the DHM website.