In the shadow of Humboldt

It is a tragic story, and - as so often it begins in Germany - with great ambitions: Following in Humboldt's footsteps, ethnologists bring together objects from all over the world to create a "laboratory" of human history. It is intended to preserve the heritage of endangered cultures and put a stop to emerging racist ideas. But soon collectors were caught in the suction of the colonial era and made devil's pacts to ensure that their holdings grew faster. The original vision also changes: Wilhelm von Bode turns the think tank into a mere foam museum. And as is the case today, the museum soon becomes the scene of political instrumentalizations that are about power of discourse, but not about the significance of the collection itself.