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Voices & Positions Controversial Kinship

Perspectives and Positions. Interview with Jürgen Matthäus about visibility, images and knowledge of crime

9 October 2026 6 Min.

Debates about the similarities and differences between colonial violence and Nazi rule have carried on since the 1930s and continue to the present day. Rooted in the fields of history, the social sciences, and cultural studies, these debates shape political discourse, media coverage, art, and the cultures of remembrance. The discussion focuses on questions of continuity, discontinuity, and comparability.

The interviews with experts as part of the exhibition “Controversial Kinship. Colonial and National Socialist Violence” present a range of perspectives and positions in the debate. Historian Jürgen Matthäus, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C., talks about visibility, images and knowledge of crime in a video interview:

“Particularly in contexts of extreme violence – such as war, extreme oppression, and exploitation – contemporaries often find it difficult to distinguish between propaganda, rumours, and facts. The more brutal, widespread, and unprecedented the crimes, the higher the threshold for credibility in the public perception. To this must be added the extent of targeted disinformation, stigmatising prejudices, habitual desensitisation, and personal experiences of violence to which the society in question is exposed at the time the crimes are committed.”

[Translate to English:] Portrait Jürgen Matthäus
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Conversation Partner

Portrait Stephan Malinowski
Stephan Malinowski

Dr. Stephan Malinowski is the curator of the exhibition “Controversial Kinship. Colonial and National Socialist Violence” at the Deutsches Historisches Museum.

Jürgen Matthäus

Jürgen Matthäus is a historian at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.

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Voices & Positions

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