‘Every one of us needs to unlearn racism’: How walking tours in Berlin are sharing Germany’s colonial history

Walk the past, change the future

Justice Mvemba set up deSta in 2021 to highlight how centuries of colonialism still affect the structures and systems that govern our lives today, having a lasting impact in areas like culture, politics and the economy. Justice believes that by shining a light on the history that led us to where we are today, we can bring about positive and lasting change for the future.

‘We don’t talk about Germany’s role in colonialism in schools,’ says Justice. ‘For example, you will find very few people who have heard of the 1884 Berlin Conference which saw European countries dividing the African continent into colonies. The fact that this happened in Berlin is widely unknown in Germany. I felt the tours would be a good way of spreading basic information and highlighting that colonialism isn’t over, the structures that were set in place 150-200 years ago are still structuring our lives today. I wanted to show that colonial narratives, biases and racist narratives are still part of our society and how we are socialised.’

What are the subjects of deSta’s decolonial tours?

deSta now runs three different walking tours in Berlin. The original leads groups around the city’s African quarter, where streets are named after former German colonies - Kamerunerstrasse, Togostrasse - and shares stories about courageous resistance fighters like Rudolph and Emily Manga Bell and Anna Mungunda.

The second tour looks at Black and Queer Feminism in Berlin, asking how Black feminism differs from white feminism, with a focus on figures like Audre Lorde, May Ayim, Queen Nzinga and Marsha P. Johnson.

Finally, the Humboldt Forum tour, which began in November 2023, takes in some of the looted collections displayed at the new Humboldt Forum, housed in the recreated Berlin Palace. It discusses the debates around the reconstruction of the palace, the exhibition of cultural artefacts from the African continent - including the Benin bronzes - and the topic of restitution.

‘For people to understand why the reconstruction of the palace itself was already highly criticised and controversial, they need to understand Germany’s role in enslavement and that era and how European society has profited from that type of oppression. That’s what the tour is about. The first part is a historical deep dive, we talk about the past 500 years and what Germany’s role was and even how Germany as a national state was founded in 1861. And then we talk about the topic of the looted objects that are displayed there and the positioning of the palace as a place of critical exchange. Through our tours, with guides who are all people of colour, we offer critical perspectives about this whole idea of museums and exhibiting objects that have been looted. I feel it’s something that just needs to be there.’

deSta’s decolonial tours are carefully researched with Justice pulling information from online resources such as Black Central Europe (read an interview with Black Central Europe), the Bildungspolitische platform and Berlin Postkolonial. She is also informed by Black authors such as Natascha A. Kelly, an author and politician, whose work includes Mapping Black Europe.

Who attends deSta’s decolonial tours?

The most visited tour is Justice’s original tour of the African Quarter. ‘We offer the African Quarter tours in German on the weekends and the white German crowd is the biggest one. People are very interested in learning about colonialism because there aren’t many possibilities to do so. We are also starting to have more tourists on our English tours.’

Justice says that ‘Decolonisation starts with oneself. The goal of the tours is for people to start reflecting about themselves. Every one of us needs to unlearn racism. We want people to go home with new thoughts and I feel like we’ve been able to achieve that in many cases.’

‘The beautiful thing is for me to see people come along. It gives me hope. At the moment we have elections in different regions of Germany. The right wing party in east Germany is taking up 30% of the vote but I also see people coming to the tours and being appreciative and open. It reminds me that one third of the population might vote one way but the other two thirds don’t. It’s important to keep reminding myself and it helps me to talk to the groups on the tours and to hear their thoughts and see their reactions.’

What can other organisations learn from deSta’s experience in sharing Black history?

Justice’s advice for cultural heritage institutions - or private enterprises - who would like to acknowledge, surface and highlight Black history in their own communities is to embrace the discomfort that exploring this topic brings.

‘Having non-white perspectives in the process of creating something is really important because it shows in the results. It asks for growth from all parties because people are confronted with topics or thoughts they have never been confronted with before. I always tell the people who come on our tours - especially white elderly men who struggle with the tours a little bit - that growth never happens in the comfort zone. I tell them that if they’re feeling insecure right now, that’s a good thing. It always asks for vulnerability to work on these topics from all parties but the result can be very beautiful.’

Find out more about deSTa and explore Black history on Europeana.eu.