Kassel's colonial traces: a post-colonial city tour

European colonialism cost the lives of at least 70 million of the approximately 80 million indigenous people in America. In the transatlantic slave trade, 12 million people were uprooted and turned into commodities. The plundering of the colonies, their raw materials and precious metals, took on gigantic proportions between the 16th and 20th centuries. The domination of whites over others was justified by racist ideologies. But what does this have to do with us here in Kassel today?

Kassel is also a place that is deeply entangled in the history of German colonialism. The anatomist Samuel Thomas Soemmering developed a theory of "scientific racism" here, the Henschel works manufactured rails and railway trains that transported colonial soldiers and raw materials, and colonial exhibitions were held in the Orangery.

This historical legacy is not immediately visible in today's cityscape. However, it is important for a responsible approach to history to make the traces of colonial rule visible again - such as the locations of colonial goods shops and exhibitions, the training centres for colonial farmers and the racial experiments in research.

The initiative cassel postcolonial has been organising post-colonial city walks since 2015 and invites you to get to know Kassel in a new way. The aim is to draw connections between Kassel's role in historical colonialism and our everyday lives today and to look at how Kassel is interwoven with global social developments. This means taking a critical look at power relations, trade routes and architecture and consciously taking both their history and their present seriously.