“Dauerkolonie Berlin”

A Performative Bus & City Tour

Germany’s history of slavery and colonial policy has left its mark in several locations, including Afrikanisches Viertel and “Mohrenstraße,” Schlossplatz, Wilhelmstraße and May-Ayim-Ufer. Here, crimes against humanity were planned, committed or commemorated through the glorification of their perpetrators, who were then celebrated as heroes.

The city was the destination for pilfered goods, cultural treasures, and even human beings from the colonies. The urban landscape of Berlin is rife with evidence of how these eras of oppression and dehumanization were intricately entwined. This is a testament to the marginalization of others, which served as a form of self-affirmation. To this day, colonial propaganda from the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich continues to shape Berlin’s cityscape, a legacy that has left an indelible mark on the city’s identity and landscape. People in Berlin, Germany, and Europe continue to benefit from colonial structures. They often do not even realise it.

This performative bus and city tour invites you to engage with this often-suppressed yet ever-present history and its echoes in the present. The early resistance of Black communities in Berlin is revealed through site-specific performances, as is the ongoing work to reclaim and reshape these contested memorial spaces.