Merkel, time to take stock: in Stuttgart, the balance of colonialism?
Bronzes from Benin on display at the Linden-Museum in Stuttgart.
© Photo: Patricia Blettery;
editing: FMM Graphic Studio
Text by: Patricia Blettery Follow
6 mins
Germany facing its history.
This work of general introspection is also driven by the Chancellor.
If the Nazi period and the decades of partitioning the country during the Cold War were the subject of many gestures and declarations in the past, what about German colonization?
Recognition of the genocide in Namibia, restitution of works to Africa, what should we credit Angela Merkel?
Report in Stuttgart, with those who connect the country to its history.
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From our special correspondent,
Last May,
Germany officially recognized
having committed between 1904 and 1908 a genocide against the Herero and Namas populations in Namibia. Between 75,000 and 100,000 people died, killed by German settlers. In a "
gesture of recognition of the immense suffering inflicted on the victims
”, Heiko Maas, the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, then pledged to pay more than 1 billion euros in development aid to this southern African country. A late decision, more than a century after the events, which, like the restitution of works of art looted in Africa, is part of Germany's desire to confront the crimes of this period. Last April, a meeting of museum curators and regional politicians, at the initiative of State Secretary for Culture Monika Grütters, decided in this direction.
The
Linden-Museum
, located in Stuttgart in Baden-Wurtenberg, is preparing to return, in the course of 2022, several
bronzes from Benin
to Nigeria, a former British colony which had integrated part of the kingdom of Benin. “
The question is not whether Germany will be the first. It is not a competition, it would be sad to consider it that way,
”comments Inès de Castro, the director of the museum. "
The objects in the collection of our museum belong to the Baden-Wurtenberg region and the city of Stuttgart. It is therefore the federal states that decide on these restitutions. National policy has little to do with it. We have therefore been discussing for several years with the museums of Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne and Leipzig in this regard so that this can take place in 2022
”.
Founded in colonial times, the Linden-Museum in Stuttgart is one of the few ethnological museums in Germany to have created a permanent research post concerning the provenance of works of art. In his collection, there are about sixty of these famous plaques and sculptures in metal and ivory made between the 16th and 18th centuries which decorated the royal palace of Benin. Looted by the British at the end of the 19th century, they can be found in several European museums. The objects held by the Linden-Museum were mostly (91%) acquired between 1884 and 1920, that is to say during the colonial era. The soldiers supposed to maintain order in the colonial zones contributed to the despoiling of this property,but also people who worked in the colonies for economic reasons or employees of the local administration.
All of these looted goods could be exhibited at the large museum of art and history under construction in Benin City in Nigeria.
The ethnographic museum in Stuttgart, the Linden-Museum.
© Patricia Blettery / RFI
“
We don't talk so much about colonial times in Germany.
But gradually, the subject is gaining importance thanks to groups of activists who fight for the country to assume its responsibilities and be able to face its multiple identities.
Of course, the
Black Lives Matter
movement
has played a role in reexamining the Western narrative of colonialism.
Young people, too, want to understand the society in which they live.
They become aware of the existence of German colonial history
, ”says Inès de Castro.
Official return of Hendrik Witbooi's bible and whip to Namibia
In 2019, the Land of Baden-Württemberg is showing the way, without waiting for the position of Angela Merkel's government, by returning to Namibia a bible and a whip that belonged to a certain Hendrik Witbooi.
Hero of the Nama people, he distinguished himself in the battles against German colonial troops between 1893 and 1896. The two objects had been stored since 1902 at the Linden-Museum.
Inès de Castro insists on this aspect: “
Of course, there is a national position on this question of the cultural heritage of formerly colonized countries.
But it is the regions with the museums, legal owners of these collections, which must decide on these restitutions, on this difficult and problematic heritage.
It is a common responsibility.
Baden-Württemberg has played a pioneering role and has pushed other regions in this direction so that it becomes a national initiative.
"
To assume their responsibilities
On the duty of remembrance concerning the colonial period in Africa, the Ethnographic Museum in Stuttgart wishes to be exemplary.
The exhibition “The Linden-Museum and Württemberg in the Colonial Period” questions the role of the ethnographic museum which participated in the construction of a colonial vision of the world, but also raises the question of the coexistence of these multiple identities today.
Visitors are invited to change their perspective, to adopt their own point of view.
At the Linden Museum, the emphasis is on the notion of perspective.
Where do the objects come from?
How were they acquired?
What is not told or shown to us?
© J. Kaiss / Linden Museum
Numerous warnings mark the course so that the public can question the presentation of the object (the context in which the property was acquired is clearly indicated), a diorama dating from the 1960s criticizes the way the Linden-Museum had 'exhibit, persuaded to "
deliver a realistic idea
" of the environment and social context. Members of the diasporas from Cameroon, Namibia, Congo, Mozambique are invited to participate in the writing of the texts for the exhibitions. The focus is on how German colonialism manifested itself in the Württemberg region and continues to have repercussions today.
“
We discussed for years the Second World War, Nazism, now is the time to face the atrocities committed during the colonial period,
” says the director of the museum.
“
Karingana wa karingana
”: when this sentence is pronounced in Mozambique, explains one of the texts in the exhibition “Where is Africa”, the time has come for the present assembly to be silent, to listen attentively to what is going on. be told.
Important stories are going to be told, long-lived stories that tell a lot about us.
In this case, that colonialism was a system of structurally racist injustices, a crime against humanity.
► The exhibition “Where is Africa” is permanent, “The Linden-Museum and Württemberg in the colonial period
”, at the Linden-Museum in Stuttgart until May 8, 2022
►
To read also:
Merkel, time to take stock: in Cologne, the realization of an assumed migration policy
Merkel, time to take stock: in Dresden, a more autonomous and forward-looking industry
Merkel, time to take stock: a more modern societal policy
Merkel, time to take stock: in the Rhineland, the contradictions of environmental policy
►
On France 24:
[Long format] Return on the 16 years of reign of the German Chancellor
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