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Hessen (Post)Colonial
In recent years, the long and uncovered traces of the German colonial past have been increasingly exposed and publicly debated across Germany. Yet, despite the remnants of empire, such as the central colonial training centre in Witzenhausen (Kolonialeschule), objects in museums and private collections, or the birthplace of explorers and colonisers, advocates, and critics alike, little has been identified this past within Hesse’s state borders. The project Hessen Postkolonial, thus, aims to address this and centralise information on Hesse’s colonial past.
The website collects and identifies spaces and traces of the colonial relations and connections that existed between the State of Hesse, business or individuals, institutions, or universities with the outside world, whether they remain active or no longer exist. Examples range from the presence of street names and memorials, in the old buildings of colonial goods shops (Kolonialwarenläden), to the locations of human zoos (Völkerschauen) or colonial exhibitions. Even in some of the early histories of prominent companies based in Hesse, colonial connections ran deep, just as they did in museums, scientific institutions, and missions, as well as in more inconspicuous places of publications and everyday culture.
Just as the territory of Heese is blurred in its definition, so are the categories of ‘colonial’ and ‘post-colonial’. Therefore, the project approaches these categories as fluid and looks to identify traces of relations to concepts of the exotic, of orientalism, or in their fascination with the ‘Other’ (Fremd). Mention on the following site is, thus, not intended as moral judgment nor an indictment. More so, Hessen Postkolonial aims to support historical research by revealing a buried dimension of German and European History, using a unique regionalised perspective. Instead of focusing on big cities such as Hamburg, Berlin or Bremen, Hessen Postkolonial demonstrates how despite its regionalisation, the colonial world was interwoven in its historical experience.