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

Seminar paper from the year 2019 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: History of Inernational Relations, grade: 1,0, University of Stuttgart, language: English, abstract: 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. 'To be in touch with as much of the world as possible' 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'. 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.