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Federal President Steinmeier at the inauguration of the castle:
Photo:
Christian Marquardt / EPA
This ceremony was a contradiction in terms.
It should be solemn and yet not give the impression that there is something to celebrate.
There was music on this Wednesday morning, many words were spoken, including warnings.
Terms like colonialism, crime and restitution were dropped.
Some speakers again seemed almost defiant, but they made it sound as if there were still chances that the nation here, in the middle of Berlin, will not completely embarrass itself.
The occasion for this event was the renewed - and now final - opening of the Humboldt Forum in the rebuilt City Palace.
With it, the ethnological departments are inaugurated, which were previously inaccessible.
The artifacts, for example from Africa and South America, should actually carry the state project emotionally and make Germany appear as open-minded as it is cosmopolitan in the new millennium.
But already during the construction of the palace it became clear that nothing would come of it, because even the most famous museum objects are looted colonial art.
Exhibiting them polarizes even more than the architecture, which some critics even call »fake history«.
A state palace that doesn't explain itself
When Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrived at the castle on Wednesday and stepped through a door, the audience got up for a moment, as if a monarch had appeared. Then he spent 20 minutes trying to find the words worthy of democracy for this state project, which cost hundreds of millions of euros and which, as he himself emphasized, does not explain itself.
Steinmeier is clear that the country cannot really adorn itself with this Humboldt Forum, at least not in its current state.
The President has been preparing for this date for a long time.
The Berlin historian Götz Aly was one of those he met beforehand.
He was also invited today, although because of his research he must have made many enemies in the castle.
Because in his most recent book he showed that even the famous boat from the South Sea island of Luf, after all the largest object on display, was colonial booty - and that the Berliners could have known that.
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Berlin City Palace: The Humboldt Forum has opened - a little
Colonial crimes in the South Seas: "The Germans destroyed a paradise - and claim the opposite to this day" An interview by Felix Bohr and Ulrike Knöfel
New insights into the brutal reality in the South Sea colonies: The German blood trail in paradise by Felix Bohr, Ulrike Knöfel and Elke Schmitter
In his speech, Steinmeier did not exclude the fact that there are works of art or cult objects in our museums that “were not legally acquired”.
Behind them is a "story of submission, looting, robbery and murder," he said.
With reference to the Luf boat, he called for more research.
His congratulations to the hosts were, so to speak, provided with a warning: "I would like to congratulate you on this - and I am very aware of how controversial some things are and will remain."
A guest from Nigeria set the right tone
In places, Steinmeier was quite clear, especially for what is generally diplomatic, federal presidential relations. He also undertook an excursus on the debate about the singularity of the Holocaust, which he affirmed, but at the same time called for empathy for the victims of colonialism.
His address was followed by that of the Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who had to talk about nothing and thus finally set the right tone for this ceremony.
History has a meaning, including the African one, she said.
In European schools nothing is taught about the crimes of the Europeans in their colonies, while in the European museums the cultural heritage of Africa is literally frozen.
The Europeans, including the Germans, did not want to hand over the objects, and neither do they want to give up the sovereignty of interpretation.
She calls this practice "retain and explain".
more on the subject
Debate about looted colonial art: an end to trivialization A comment by Ulrike Knöfel
Humboldt Forum in the Berlin City Palace: Employees complain of humiliation and surveillance by Elisa von Hof and Ulrike Knöfel
Art historian on colonial booty: "Some museum directors simply lied" An interview by Felix Bohr and Ulrike Knöfel
Your contribution, presented in a calm voice, was a convincing plea for restitution.
It is time for courage, time for hope, time to act, she said.
The well-known writer regards the fact that the descendants of the robbers instead assumed the descendants of the robbed that they could not take care of things properly, at least not as well as the thieves, is a "paternalistic arrogance of the most amazing kind."
The museums like to claim that they still needed a lot of time to research the holdings, but they had the time to build the museum, and now Adichie spoke in his largest hall - and made the whole institution seem very petty.
Of course, German museums - including the Berlin collections - agreed to return Benin bronzes to Nigeria some time ago.
This was also referred to several times in the castle on this Wednesday.
But it is still not clear how many - and why not all of them?
And what about the many other pieces in the showcases, in the depots?
Federal President Steinmeier suggested approaching the Humboldt Forum with questions and doubts.
The credibility of this new institution, however, depends on those who decide on returns.
The showcases and depots would have to be emptied, then there would also be space for the dialogue between world cultures, which the responsible cultural politicians and the lords of the castle are so fond of conjuring up.
