German Colonial Museum

German Colonial Museum
Deutsches Kolonialmuseum
German Colonial Museum (left) next to Lehrter Bahnhof in Berlin, 1900
General information
Type	Museum
Address	Rahel-Hirsch-Straße 10, 10557 Berlin, Germany
Coordinates	52°31′21″N 13°22′5.16″E / 52.52250°N 13.3681000°E / 52.52250; 13.3681000
Opened	13 October 1899
Closed	1915

The German Colonial Museum (‹See Tfd›German: Deutsches Kolonialmuseum; 1899 - 1915) was a museum in the Berlin district of Moabit that existed from 1899 to 1915. The museum aimed to inform the German public about the German colonies overseas. Its collection consisted of more than 70,000 artifacts, and it attracted a significant number of visitors, with around 481,259 visitors between 1899 and 1911.

The museum's exhibits covered various aspects of the colonies, including their missionary work, trade, literature, history, culture, and everyday life. There was also a particular focus on promoting colonial products for the German domestic market. In addition to its main function as a museum, the Deutsches Kolonialmuseum also played a propagandistic role in promoting German colonialism. The museum was designed by colonial enthusiasts and aimed to legitimise and glorify German colonial expansion.

Although the German Colonial Museum was closed in 1915, its legacy can still be seen in the collections of the German Historical Museum (‹See Tfd›German: Deutsches Historisches Museum). Furthermore, in Bremen, there exists a museum that was originally named Deutsches Kolonialmuseum but was renamed German Oversea museum (‹See Tfd›German: Deutsches Überseemuseum) after World War II.^[1]