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Voices & Positions Controversial Kinship

Perspectives and Positions. Interview with Wendy Lower about conquest, settlement and transformation in National Socialism

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 Wendy Lower, Claremont McKenna College, talks about conquest, settlement and transformation in National Socialism in a video interview:

“I don't think the question of comparison National Socialism with colonialism is a question for historians to decide. I think it's about trying to understand what was actually happening, both on the ground and in the minds of these Nazi leaders. And it is complex. But it is, in fact, this very unusual combination of a German, European, global history, actually, that brings together – and they do this consciously and deliberately – genocidal policies with what they think is a utopian – it's a dystopian – vision of a German-, or so-called Aryan-dominated Europe.”

[Translate to English:] Portrait Wendy Lower
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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.

Wendy Lower

Wendy Lower is a historian at the Claremont McKenna College.

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Voices & Positions

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