1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:06,639
Objects in a history museum derive their life
from their origin, from their provenance.

2
00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:08,519
Who did they belong to?

3
00:00:08,519 --> 00:00:10,400
Where were they?

4
00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:12,439
How did they come into our collection?

5
00:00:12,919 --> 00:00:15,640
Telling that story,

6
00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:19,559
these changes of hands,
these changes of place,

7
00:00:19,559 --> 00:00:22,079
these spatial shifts,

8
00:00:22,079 --> 00:00:25,640
this connection
with history –

9
00:00:25,839 --> 00:00:29,559
that is what gives these
objects their meaning here.

10
00:00:30,199 --> 00:00:35,280
An object that, for example,
was on Napoleon’s head,

11
00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:37,399
An object that, for example,
was on Napoleon’s head,

12
00:00:37,399 --> 00:00:40,880
because it was his hat,
therefore has a different

13
00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:46,600
meaning for us than any other hat
from the same period.

14
00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:49,560
And in this respect,

15
00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:54,600
the connection with
the previous owner,

16
00:00:54,600 --> 00:00:58,719
with the space and the time
in which this object

17
00:00:59,159 --> 00:01:02,600
was once situated, is central.

18
00:01:02,600 --> 00:01:04,959
And these are the kinds
of stories we tell.

19
00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:10,959
The exhibition
Objects. History. Stories.

20
00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:17,799
also seeks to show how we,
as the German Historical Museum,

21
00:01:17,799 --> 00:01:20,640
approach our collection.

22
00:01:21,159 --> 00:01:27,239
This also includes reflecting
on the different layers

23
00:01:27,239 --> 00:01:29,879
through which this collection
came into being.

24
00:01:30,760 --> 00:01:36,680
Collecting is never
without a perspective;

25
00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:39,519
one might say
it is never innocent.

26
00:01:40,079 --> 00:01:43,799
Rather, there is always a purpose:
why collect this,

27
00:01:43,799 --> 00:01:45,840
and why not collect
something else?

28
00:01:45,840 --> 00:01:50,040
This collecting activity,
these layers,

29
00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:52,879
the way this collection
came into being,

30
00:01:52,879 --> 00:01:57,519
are also part of what
we reflect on

31
00:01:57,519 --> 00:02:01,200
when we present objects
of history.

32
00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:05,799
And the special exhibition
Objects. History. Stories.

33
00:02:05,799 --> 00:02:08,159
will make this its subject,

34
00:02:08,159 --> 00:02:14,879
showing how these objects
came to be with us at all.

35
00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:22,319
And thereby also revealing,
in some way, the patina

36
00:02:22,319 --> 00:02:25,120
that is associated
with the objects,

37
00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:27,680
because it makes a great
difference

38
00:02:27,680 --> 00:02:30,840
whether an object came here
during the German Empire,

39
00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:34,360
during the Weimar Republic,
during the National Socialist period,

40
00:02:34,360 --> 00:02:38,919
or within the framework of the Museum
of German History,

41
00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:42,800
which sought to represent
a Marxist-Leninist worldview

42
00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:46,199
through these objects,

43
00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:49,039
or later, in the phase

44
00:02:49,039 --> 00:02:53,000
when the German Historical Museum,
whose origins were strongly linked

45
00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:56,280
to a wish of Helmut Kohl,
but also of Willy Brandt,

46
00:02:56,280 --> 00:03:00,000
came into being,

47
00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:02,039
how these objects
came to us.