Decolonize Cologne is an initiative by Cologne-based historians Azziza B. Malanda, Bebero Lehmann and Merle Bode. They offer colonial-critical tours of Cologne’s districts that publicly address Germany’s colonial past and its perpetuation in our society and in our minds.

Their critical approach aims to shed light on the hegemonic role of German historiography: which perspective is history told from? Whose voices are heard and whose are not? How are certain events and people remembered? In posing these questions, they introduce a change of perspective and emphasise the history of anti-colonial resistance, the perspectives of Black people and people of colour as well as female and non-binary protagonists – whether Black, white or women of colour. The focus is not only on social structures that have an economic, political and cultural impact, but also on ourselves: what stories and connections do we have to colonialism? What images/ideas did we grow up with? What roles did our families play?

Decolonize Cologne will guide festival visitors through Cologne’s Südstadt and offer a new perspective on this hitherto familiar part of town.

(Unfortunately, the tours are fully booked )