The Deutsches Historisches Museum is dealing for the first time with various aspects of German colonialism in an exhibition with more than 500 objects. Although the German Empire was one of the major European colonial powers, only in recent years has Germany‘s colonial past found its way into public consciousness to a significant degree. The exhibition examines the colonial ideology, which was founded in the belief of a European superiority. The multifarious interconnections of power ranged from local alliances and the routine exercise of violence on up to the colonial war in Namibia, which developed into genocide. No less varied were the colonial encounters. African, Oceanian and German players pursued their own aims and worked out their own scope of action. The exhibition sheds light on the motives of the missionaries, officials, military personnel, settlers and merchants on the German side as well as the interests of the colonialized peoples.

This exhibition is designed for disabled people and offers tours for the blind and visually impaired as well as tours in sign language, by arrangement.