Although the debate about the restitution of looted art and Germany’s acknowledgement of genocide in what is today Namibia have garnered some attention, the country’s colonial past yet remains to be fully appraised. Germany was only for a relatively short period a colonial power, but at times (until the end of WW I) the third largest in the world.

The RG Munich goes on a free alternative walking tour in English with DAAD alumnus and LMU sociologist Albert Denk to explore colonial traces in Munich. This tour takes us from Schwabing to the center of Munich and exposes the entanglements of colonial history and today’s continuities. From a postcolonial perspective, we will discuss colonial remnants and references to this epoch in the cityscape. We will stop at initially inconspicuous places like the Lioness of Behn or the heritage of Karl Tutschek (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek). There we will discuss the following questions: What can be seen in these places today and what kind of remembrance work is taking place? What has happened here and who is honored in this place? We will take a closer look at these and other questions between Martiusstraße and the Museum Fünf Kontinente.

Most of the places we visit are quite obscure even to “native” Munich residents, so this is our chance to learn something special. Few for example are aware that EDEKA, an omnipresent supermarket chain, originally stood for ‘Einkaufsgenossenschaft deutscher Kolonialwarenhändler’ (buyers’ coop of German traders in colonial goods – i.e. sugar, coffee, tobacco, rice, spices, tea, cocoa).

10 participants with Covid test

Contact: fk-muenchen@daad-alumni.de