De]colonial Memory Practices in Germany’s Public Space

Abstract

In the summer of 2020, the debate about what to do with traces of colonialism in public space attracted an unusual degree of attention: thousands around the world marched against racism, colonial monuments and police violence. The trigger for these protests was the death of George Floyd, who died in the US city of Minneapolis on May 25 while being arrested because police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for several minutes. In many countries, these global protests rekindled long-standing objections to statues honoring the protagonists of colonial history and lent greater visibility to campaigns. From New Zealand and the United States, via Venezuela, Martinique, and South Africa, to Belgium, Britain, and Spain, many figures have been torn from their pedestals, not only during the protests of June 2020, but in previous years, too. In the United States alone, statues of Christopher Columbus (ca. 1451–1506) were pulled to the ground with ropes, decapitated, or ceremonially removed, and in the wake of the protests Confederate icons were sprayed and damaged as well.1