Who, What, Where Is Colonial?

A new edited volume traces Berlin’s history—from Pokesu to Anna-Mungunda-Allee—through the lens of the city’s colonial entanglements. Bringing into view what has long been obscured, the book connects historical research with ongoing debates around memory politics and decolonial practices in the city.
Book cover: Who, What, Where Is Colonial?
© Visual Intelligence

How colonial is Berlin? Through six contributions, this volume explores previously overlooked links between Berlin and European colonialism—from Brandenburg-Prussia’s role in the early modern enslavement trade to present-day struggles over urban politics and memory. The volume focuses on:

  • Actors, including Brandenburg-Prussian engineer and fortress commander Carl Constantin von Schnitter, and the influential West African power broker Jan Conny.
  • Events, such as the 1884/85 Berlin Conference.
  • Sites, such as the ‘African Quarter’ in Berlin-Wedding, where contested histories remain etched into the urban fabric.

What emerges clearly is that Berlin’s history is also a colonial history — and its legacies endure to this day.

Available in our museum shops from April — or exclusively online on this page.

The Book

Lorraine Bluche, Suy Lan Hopmann (eds.)
Who, What, Where Is Colonial?
Exploring Berlin’s History from Pokesu to Anna-Mungunda-Allee
With contributions by Aischa Ahmed, Annika Bärwald, Laura Frey, Anne Haeming, Josepha Jendricke, Andrea Weindl, Clara Westendorff.
Published by Verlag M / Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin
ISBN 978-3-939254-56-0
Price: 14 euros (paperback)

Inside the book