The Controversy About the Humboldt Forum. How to Remember Postcolonial Commemorative Culture

Table of contents

Table of contents

1. Introduction

2. The Basics of German (Post-)Colonialism

3. The Humboldt Forum
3.1 Origin of the Name
3.2 Purpose
3.3 Controversy

4. Postcolonial Commemorative Culture in other countries
4.1 France
4.2 England

5. How to – Postcolonial Commemorative Culture

6. Future of the Humboldt Forum

7. Conclusion

8. Limitations

List of references

List of figures

1. Introduction

“To be in touch with as much of the world as possible” (Berlin Palace–Humboldtforum Foundation 2011:1) is what Wilhelm von Humboldt once said. This quotation is cited on the cover of the Humboldt Forum brochure advertising the new museum which is currently being built in Germany. Amongst other things it will later showcase art which was acquired during the postcolonial period. This is the reason, why with the museum and this quotation there comes a whole lot of controversy that reaches far over the borders of Germany. The core of the discussion is whether proudly displaying items which were obtained under difficult, sometimes even violent and nonconsensual conditions, can ever be a sign for “positive coexistence” and “encouraging curiosity and enthusiasm about unfamiliar realms” (2011:15). So, what the founders of such institutions intended visitors to remember while they are in the museum is the historical past of the countries from which the items were taken. But what should also be remembered, and not celebrated at all here, are the lootings and exploitations of the Europeans during postcolonial times which is more or less quietly being swept under the rug. But is there a right or wrong way to remember such times and if so, how should postcolonial commemorative culture be realized? As the focus of this paper lies mainly on Germany it will therefore first give an overview of German postcolonialism as this is the current hot topic with the Humboldt Forum being in construction, then it takes a closer look at what the Humboldt forum exactly is and why it is so controversial. After that it gives an insight into how other countries deal with the issue of publicly remembering sensible subjects and it concludes with examples of how countries could possibly remember in a more sensible way and an outlook on the future of such institutions, the Humboldt Forum in particular.

2. The Basics of German (Post-)Colonialism

To understand any topic its main terms need to be clarified first. Therefore, before the overview is given this paper looks at the terminology of both colonialism and postcolonialism. The word “postcolonialism” is more difficult to explain, compared to its predecessor, as it seems to have multiple meanings. According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary its definition is “of, relating to, or being a time after colonialism” (2019) and colonialism is being defined here as the “control of one power over a dependent area or people.” (2019), which usually went along with settling in this dependent are and economically exploiting it and its people (see Horvath 1972:46). But those still do not get to the core of what this term means. There are many attempts of different people to narrow down what “postcolonialism” really means. These include stating that by the 1990s it provided the long overdue corrections to colonialism. It does so by marking the need to transition and, above that, the transition itself of the formerly colonies, from being governed by other nations to self-determination and -government (see Darian-Smith 1996:292). Additionally, the term “postcolonialism” stands for the recognition of different human beings and cultures as equal (see Bartels, Eckstein, Waller, Wiemann 2017:6). And lastly it is about an interventionist approach to the present and future neo-colonial injustices (2017:7). Both colonialism and postcolonialism therefore include many subtopics like racism, exceptionalism and elitism but have a different approach on them (see Sachs 2003:112). Even though Germany is not the first country one thinks of when hearing about colonialism, it did have one of the largest colonial empires between 1884 and 1919. Important to note here as well is that when ‘Germany’ is mentioned in this paragraph, it is not the same country that we know today, back then it was Prussia and should be understood as such. Prussia did not include all of today’s Germany but mostly the northern parts of the country including Berlin, which was also their capital during colonial times. (see Senate Department for Urban Development and Housing) As Figure 1 below shows, the colonies were mainly situated in Africa. Here, in Namibia to be precise, Germany built its first colony and then expanded inland. In the very late 19th century Germany then also acquired some colonies in south-east Asia and even later smaller ones in other parts of the world, but these were never considered to bring great renown to the empire (see Conrad 2012:36). Germanys goal, which it wanted to achieve with colonization, reportedly differed from the goals of the other, older colonial powers. While nations like Britain and France usually did not change the established government structures Germany wanted to create more efficient forms of government. It wanted to use strategies based on science and knowledge therefore promoting development and not exploitation in the occupied countries but in reality, these concepts of good intentions were rarely if ever carried out (see 2012:37). In Namibia, for example, 70 per cent of the land was given to settlers, therefore threatening the survival and culture of the natives (see 2012:38). In addition to that a lot of young male adults were forced to work for these same settlers, which also brought up the subject of racism. (see 2012:42).

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

German postcolonial commemorative culture differs from that of other nations that had colonial power as well. The country almost disavows its colonial past and any obligations that have to come with postcolonialism. The main reason for this is the following. Through the Nazi regime during and around World War 2 Germany has already a difficult past to deal with and many obligations to restore and commemorate. This seems to erase all obligations towards previous historical events (see Bartels, Eckstein, Waller, Wiemann 2017:2) This is the reason why most institutions in Berlin do not see it necessary to return any objects in their colonial collections to their respective owners. Only one institution, namely the Charité, adopted a policy of handing back such items, but only if requested (2017:1). In addition to that the German government itself pretty much proclaimed that they do not have any interest in proactive research into the country’s colonial history (2017:2).

All in all, this means that even thought Germany focused on developing instead of exploiting its colonized nations, it still accumulated quite a lot of looted artifacts during its colonial time and most of these objects were brought to Berlin, the royal Prussian capital. Because of the world wars, especially WW2, which occurred almost immediately after the colonial era, German postcolonial commemorative culture can be considered weak at the most because it concentrates all his commemorative efforts towards the Nazi past and not colonialism.

3. The Humboldt Forum

The name of the Humboldt Forum has now already been mentioned several times, but to get to the core of the matter one needs to really look into what the Humboldt Forum now exactly is. In the following the most important matters surrounding the museum are pointed out.

3.1 Origin of the Name

The Humboldt Forum got its name from the two Von Humboldt brothers William, also called Wilhelm in German, and Alexander (see Bauer 1852:2,3). They were both born in Germany and stayed in contact all their lives. Even though Wilhelm focused his live on philosophy and linguistics and his little brother on natural science they shared some interests, too, such as archaeology and history (see 1852:3,13). Alexander was also the one to travel abroad many times, even accompanying Captain Cook on his expeditions into the Pacific, whereas Wilhelm stayed most of his life in Germany (see Sachs 2003:114). So, Alexander in particular became known to represent a theory which “[…] recognize[s] unity in the vast diversity of phenomena […]” (Goetzmann 1986:59) meaning the basics of what we today know of as humanitarianism. This is why their name stands for the combination of cultural- and natural- sciences, for the acceptance of the different varieties and races of humanity (see Berlin Palace–Humboldtforum Foundation 2011:18). But when talking about the Humboldt brothers and how they are celebrated nowadays, especially in Germany, there is to note as well that Alexander already worked in close contact with colonial administrations while he was travelling. This suggests that his position in colonial matters was not all too clear and he apparently stated in his own book that he took, at least once, part in unrightfully taking relics from the indigenous people he encountered while abroad (see Ha 2017). So, the name gives already a hint at the controversy which is now surrounding the Humboldt Forum, and which will be further disclosed in the next paragraphs.

3.2 Purpose

The Humboldt Forum will be a combination of museum, library and university. When it is finished it shall consist of three institutions one of which, and at the same time the largest, is the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. This is the institution this paper is interested in, therefore the other two will not be elaborated here further. The Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation will be facilitating a broad range of over 500,000 objects of non-European art and culture (see Berlin Palace–Humboldtforum Foundation 2011:20). These artifacts that are on display there are supposed to give insight into the different cultures from all over the world, evoking curiosity and enthusiasm about foreign nations (see 2011:15). It was created after a statement of the French president which basically said no great museum can be truly great if it ignores the art of 70 per cent of the world’s population. The colonial past of most of these relics is presented in the museum as well but the focus here lies on the Humboldt brothers and their achievements during this time (see 2011:31) as mentioned in the chapter above. It is also said that “a steady stream of objects from these areas of the world, [is to be credited for] the balance and completeness of the Berlin holdings […].” (2011:31) This quote rounds up the goal of the Humboldt Forum. It is concerned with present and future times, not the past.

3.3 Controversy

The critique on the Humboldt on the other hand is that it´s purpose seems to be widely ignored in the way they go about it. One cannot only focus on the present and the future, meanwhile overlooking or even rejecting the past. And if a look into the past of the displayed artifacts is given, there are many reasons why such a controversy arose around the institution. The most obvious one is that most of the non-European items which shall be on display in the museum are lootings which were taken during the colonial times, some of them were even payed for in blood. Critics say that artifacts like these can therefore never be a sign for international elucidation, especially when their background is not clearly presented (see No Humboldt 21! [Resolution] 2013).

Another problematic is the name of the institution. As established in chapter 3.1 the name Humboldt has its own controversy by the brothers proclaiming, they are against colonialism and all exploiting practices which ate related to it. But mainly because of Alexander Von Humboldt’s close business relations with colonial powers like Spain, which made him basically an accomplice to the crimes committed by these nations, people are not sure what to think of the brothers. This is why they are not at all suitable as name givers to an institution which is supposed to promote equality and interculturality (see [Resolution] 2013).

Apart from that the location of the Humboldt Forum is also being criticized. The building is going to be in the Berlin palace, the re-erection of the seat of the Prussian emperors. This is disturbing because Prussian rule was the reason for German colonialism in the first place, as noted in chapter 2 (see [Resolution] 2013).

Lastly, it is difficult for people to comprehend how the state can spend almost 700 million for the whole Humboldt Forum in total, not including the cost of the land it is being built on. Especially because, at the end of the day, only privileged people can afford to travel to and enjoy the benefits of the institution, instead of investing the money in organizations that could support the development and people of the nations the displayed items were taken from (see Association Berliner Schlosses E.V.).

The campaign created to prevent the Humboldt Forum from being built and which demands an immediate stop of the construction on the basis of the points mentioned above, is called “No, Humboldt 21!”. It is an association of 40 organizations in the realm of civil society (see No Humboldt 21! [Press release] 2013). The solution they propose as to what to do with these relics instead include giving back the controversially acquired artifacts to the countries and people they have been taken from, and at the same time devising new possible ways of equal dialogue between said nations and Europeans so that the colonial heritage is properly recognized (see Africavenir). These propositions will be further looked into in chapter 5. But so far, “No Humboldt 21!” was to no avail.

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