Colonialist traces in Spandau

When the project could be started in May 2021, the great fear was that it would hardly be possible to find anything that specifically connects the city of Spandau, which was still independent until 1920, with German colonialism. One's own blind spot, which still clouds the scientific view due to the systematic marginalization of German colonial history, played a major role in this. At first, the same colonial goods signs came to mind, thoughts such as "Maybe some coral jewelry in a family estate?", "There are hardly any documents in the archive anyway.", "The much-used needle in the haystack will be easier to find." Instead, the research results presented below by freelance researcher Cornelia von Heßberg show that the opposite is the case: With the systematic research made possible by the funding of the District Cultural Fund "Reappraisal of Colonial History at the Berlin District and Regional Museums", so many thematic strands have already come to light within a few months that a continuation of the project will be profitable in every respect.

This brochure was originally intended only as a short research report to provide the necessary evidence for basic research. Now it has already resulted in a small reference work that can be used for various in-depth projects. There have also been some preliminary dead ends, such as the amalgamation of colonialism with Spandau's private and military economic history. Above all, it would be necessary to work together with the Siemens company archive or the Freiburg military archive in a way that is not yet possible due to the pandemic (the archive places are booked up for months). Of all things, biographical approaches have emerged that can be used sustainably both for inclusion in exhibition projects and for publications in order to make colonial history accessible to a broad audience. One idea that is to find its way into one of Spandau's permanent exhibitions is a possible juxtaposition of the experiences of a White Spandau woman who was in "German Southwest Africa" (Namibia) for a while and a Black Spandau, who originally came from Cameroon and returned there as a resistance fighter. A change of perspective regarding the rarely noticed colonization of Asian areas is also still an important topic for Spandau and supported by these initial research results. The most important project already started in this context is the new concept of a permanent exhibition on the topic of fortress and military history in Spandau, in which colonialist contexts are considered and made visible from the very beginning.
In addition, the findings that have been developed and need to be further deepened could also be incorporated into the permanent exhibition "Revealed. Berlin and its Monuments" – not only if a monument such as the so-called "Hererostein" that is clearly colonial criminal could (finally) be removed from public space and exhibited in the museum in a contextualized way. The previous media stations can now also be expanded in a scientifically sound manner with appropriate references.

However, the revision of the permanent exhibition on the history of the city will also be made possible on the basis of the research results, as well as improved provenance research in the collection. Furthermore, mutual support between the districts and the initiatives that also conduct research on the topic of colonialism has already taken place and promotes the already established cooperation. This brochure and the results of it will be made directly available for the first time for Spandau education and outreach work during the Anti-Racism Weeks in March 2022, with regular cooperation with other educational institutions also being sought.

It is thanks to the intensive and, despite all the adversities caused by the pandemic, excellent work by Cornelia von Heßberg and the team of the City History Museum with Carmen Mann (Head of Collection) and Sebastian Schuth (Head of Archives) that the results to be read below can be presented in their present form.

Dr. Urte Evert, January 2022