Remembering means looking at the past from the present in order to learn from it for the future. As part of the participation process for the colonialism remembrance concept of the City of Berlin, and under the direction of Dr. Ibou Diop, the question “What special features arise for the culture of remembrance when a capital, a city state (state level and districts) and a city with a divided history (East and West Berlin) want to develop such a concept?” was discussed by Antonia Naase, Barbara Lutz, Clara Westendorff, Charlotte Piepenbrock and Mathilde ter Heijne in working group 3 and brought together in a text contribution. The series of photo collages Places of Memory was created parallel to the text.

“If you look for an answer to the question of what a decolonial concept of remembrance for colonialism can and should look like in today’s Berlin, you come across contradictions and contradictions. At first glance, it seems contradictory that Germany, the self-declared ‘world champion of remembrance’, has a large blind spot in its own colonial history, although this does not seem to detract from its self-image. On the other hand, the forces in society that are still of the opinion that the Prussian monarchy and the empire are honorable episodes of German history despite colonialism, militarism and warmongering, which should of course be at the center of uncritical German remembrance, are resistant. In a sense, the ‘good Germany’ that preceded the ‘bad Germany’ (between 1933-1945) and therefore the part of history that people look back on with pride rather than guilt-conscious dismay. Those forces that believe that it is enough to ‘become aware’ of one’s colonial past in order to then continue with practices of collecting, exhibiting and discussing colonial heritage without changing structures are also resistant.

Some of the sites, most of which are located in the political center of Berlin and thus have a certain representative function for the various historical-political positionings and thus also for the city’s culture of remembrance, were the starting point for our research in visual and historical terms. They provide information about different perspectives and narratives on the culture of remembrance in Berlin. From a contemporary perspective, most of the selected sites in the city show an overlapping of formative events or time periods, usually associated with an imperial and/or violent history.

Between 1990 and 1995, 67 streets, squares and bridges in the former East Berlin districts were renamed. This wave of renaming was planned by the Berlin House of Representatives in order to make the history of the GDR invisible in the cityscape. Most of the streets to be renamed were named after people from GDR history or ideological figures. After the fall of the Wall, these were to make way for the former “historical” names of the streets. Women* were also to be increasingly honored, but this factor was not a priority. As a result, 22 streets were given their historical names back. Of these renamed streets, 13 places now once again tell the story of the Prussian monarchy and the German Empire and thus also indirectly of colonial oppression. On the other hand, the history of the GDR and the honor of communist resistance against National Socialism were often lost.” (from: AG 3 – Berlin’s divided city history)