Reappraising colonial history

Even today, Berlin streets still honor many of the men who pioneered German colonialism. As part of our educational project "Schwarz auf Weiss - Spuren des Kolonialismus vor Ort" (Black on White –Traces of Colonialism in Berlin), six groups of young people will study the German “colonial pioneers” and the history of the colony that they “founded”. The participants will take part in introductory project conferences and seminars organized by teams with an intercultural background. These teams will also be providing information packages, will arrange visits to museums and archives and will go on walking tours of the city. Above all, they will enable a dialogue with migrant groups from the former German colonies. The participants will document the results of their research as texts, images and audio records and will prepare their own group presentations on the basis of that documentation. Finally, with professional help, they will prepare an audio/visual documentation (DVD) summarizing their experience. It will focus on the Berlin streets selected for the project. The DVD can be used for general information purposes or as teaching material on the subject of German colonialism. As an accompaniment to the project, we are offering a continuing education seminar on the continuity of the colonial mindset and on special aspects of intercultural work. The Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (Church Development Service) and the Landesstelle für Entwicklungszusammenarbeit (Land Office for Development Cooperation) are both supporting the project.
(translated by betterplace)