{"data":{"page":{"__typename":"ElementalPage","title":"Usakos \u2013 Making of Common History","menuTitle":"Usakos \u2013 Making of Common History","metaImage":{"width":2560,"height":1706,"src":"https:\/\/cms.bhm.ch\/assets\/BHM-LAB\/Usakos\/Usakos8.jpg","alt":"Usakos8","orientation":"2","focusPointX":0,"focusPointY":0,"id":"392","__typename":"Image"},"metaDescription":null,"content":null,"isPermantExhibition":false,"useElementsMenu":false,"elementalArea":{"elements":[{"__typename":"Text","id":"566","title":"Intro","showTitle":false,"anchor":"section-566","menuTitle":null,"showInMenus":false,"variant":"sm","htmlText":"

The project is a collaboration with the descendants of the community of origin of an ethnographic collection preserved in the Bernisches Historisches Museum from a problematic colonial context. The preliminary project, which was completed in February 2024, focused on joint research into the collection and the establishment of a partnership.<\/p>\n

The starting point for the collaboration was a collection of 330 items assembled by Victor and Marie Solioz between 1903 and 1905 against the background of the violent colonial context in Namibia at the time. After their return to Switzerland the collection came to the Bernisches Historisches Museum. Since then, very little research has been done into it, and it has not been on display for many decades. Reason enough for us to start thinking about its future.<\/p>","button":{"__typename":"Link","id":"0","label":null,"isExternal":null,"href":""}},{"__typename":"Gallery","id":"437","title":"Bern\u2019s Namibia collection","showTitle":true,"anchor":"section-437","menuTitle":null,"showInMenus":false,"variant":null,"label":"Discover","button":{"__typename":"Link","id":"0","label":null,"isExternal":null,"href":""},"items":{"nodes":[{"__typename":"GalleryImagesItem","title":null,"variant":"sm","images":[{"caption":"\u201cEkori\u201d headdress, part of the traditional costume of Herero women, Inv. Nr.: E\/1906.342.0022\/01 \u00a9 Bernisches Historisches Museum, Photograph: Christine Moor ","image":{"width":1701,"height":993,"src":"https:\/\/cms.bhm.ch\/assets\/BHM-LAB\/Usakos\/E_1906.342.0022_01.jpeg","alt":"E 1906.342.0022 01","orientation":"2","focusPointX":0,"focusPointY":0,"id":"376","__typename":"Image"},"id":"214"},{"caption":"Container made from a tortoise shell for holding ointments and medicines, Inv. Nr.: E\/1906.342.0028 \u00a9 Bernisches Historisches Museum, Photograph: Christine Moor ","image":{"width":1614,"height":3000,"src":"https:\/\/cms.bhm.ch\/assets\/BHM-LAB\/Usakos\/E_1906.342.0028.jpeg","alt":"E 1906.342.0028","orientation":"1","focusPointX":0,"focusPointY":0,"id":"377","__typename":"Image"},"id":"215"},{"caption":"Finger ring, Inv. Nr.: E\/1906.342.0070 \u00a9 Bernisches Historisches Museum, FPhotograph: Christine Moor ","image":{"width":1417,"height":945,"src":"https:\/\/cms.bhm.ch\/assets\/BHM-LAB\/Usakos\/E_1906.342.0070.jpeg","alt":"E 1906.342.0070","orientation":"2","focusPointX":0,"focusPointY":0,"id":"378","__typename":"Image"},"id":"216"},{"caption":"Knife, status symbol of a high-ranking man in northern Namibia, E\/1906.342.0296 \u00a9 Bernisches Historisches Museum, Photograph: Christine Moor ","image":{"width":1953,"height":1181,"src":"https:\/\/cms.bhm.ch\/assets\/BHM-LAB\/Usakos\/E_1906.342.0296.jpeg","alt":"E 1906.342.0296","orientation":"2","focusPointX":0,"focusPointY":0,"id":"379","__typename":"Image"},"id":"217"}],"id":"75"}]}},{"__typename":"Accordion","id":"436","title":null,"showTitle":false,"anchor":"section-436","menuTitle":null,"showInMenus":false,"variant":null,"items":{"nodes":[{"title":"Bern\u2019s Namibia collection: how did these items come to the Bernisches Historisches Museum? ","text":"

The Solioz collection, amassed by a married couple from the Bernese Jura, initially came to the Bernisches Historisches Museum in 1906 as a deposit. It consists of several hundred ethnographical items from \u201cGerman South West Africa\u201d which became the property of the museum when it purchased them in 1928. As chief engineer of the Otavi railway line, in what is now Namibia, Victor Solioz was on the front line in building the colonial infrastructure of the German Empire. The construction of the railway is now seen as a major factor in the outbreak of the war against the local population, whose resistance targeted the infrastructure of the Otavi Mining and Railway Company. The uprising was put down in the most brutal fashion by the colonial masters. <\/p>\n

This is the context in which the Solioz collection was put together, and even today it is still not clear how the couple managed to obtain hundreds of items in the midst of a bloody colonial war, and to ship them to Europe. There is evidence that the couple had good connections in the local German colonial society, and that Victor Solioz expressed approval of the brutal actions of the German colonial forces.<\/p>","image":{"width":0,"height":0,"src":null,"alt":null,"orientation":"0","focusPointX":null,"focusPointY":null,"id":"0","__typename":"Image"},"id":"28"}]}},{"__typename":"Gallery","id":"568","title":"Photo Gallery","showTitle":true,"anchor":"section-568","menuTitle":null,"showInMenus":false,"variant":null,"label":"Discover","button":{"__typename":"Link","id":"0","label":null,"isExternal":null,"href":""},"items":{"nodes":[{"__typename":"GalleryImagesItem","title":"Galerie","variant":"sm","images":[],"id":"93"},{"__typename":"GalleryImagesItem","title":"Galerie","variant":"sm","images":[{"caption":"The starting point of the collaboration: a collection of 330 objects that the Solioz couple amassed between 1903 and 1905 in the violent colonial context in Namibia.","image":{"width":5472,"height":3648,"src":"https:\/\/cms.bhm.ch\/assets\/BHM-LAB\/Usakos\/IMG_7535384ca8a993fb14157ed18a0565bf8a35ff2823e7271264a7d5e2b80711b964271.JPG","alt":"IMG 7535384ca8a993fb14157ed18a0565bf8a35ff2823e7271264a7d5e2b80711b964271","orientation":"2","focusPointX":0,"focusPointY":0,"id":"484","__typename":"Image"},"id":"283"},{"caption":"The focus was on researching the Namibian objects in the Solioz collection.","image":{"width":5472,"height":3648,"src":"https:\/\/cms.bhm.ch\/assets\/BHM-LAB\/Usakos\/IMG_75831.JPG","alt":"IMG 75831","orientation":"2","focusPointX":0,"focusPointY":0,"id":"482","__typename":"Image"},"id":"284"},{"caption":"Representatives of the Museums Association of Namibia, the Usakos Museum and the people of Usakos met in Bern.","image":{"width":2048,"height":1365,"src":"https:\/\/cms.bhm.ch\/assets\/BHM-LAB\/Usakos\/usakios.jpg","alt":"usakios","orientation":"2","focusPointX":0,"focusPointY":0,"id":"485","__typename":"Image"},"id":"286"},{"caption":"Representatives of the Museums Association of Namibia, the Usakos Museum and the people of Usakos met in Bern.","image":{"width":5472,"height":3648,"src":"https:\/\/cms.bhm.ch\/assets\/BHM-LAB\/Usakos\/IMG_76411.JPG","alt":"IMG 76411","orientation":"2","focusPointX":0,"focusPointY":0,"id":"483","__typename":"Image"},"id":"287"},{"caption":"Thanks to hybrid sessions, the exchange was also able to take place with workshop participants who were unable to physically attend in Bern.","image":{"width":5472,"height":3648,"src":"https:\/\/cms.bhm.ch\/assets\/BHM-LAB\/Usakos\/IMG_7551.JPG","alt":"IMG 7551","orientation":"2","focusPointX":0,"focusPointY":0,"id":"481","__typename":"Image"},"id":"288"}],"id":"147"}]}},{"__typename":"Text","id":"442","title":"Review: workshop in Usakos","showTitle":true,"anchor":"section-442","menuTitle":null,"showInMenus":false,"variant":"sm","htmlText":"

In July 2023 representatives of the Bernisches Historisches Museum, the Museums Association of Namibia and the Usakos Museum along with local people from Usakos met for a workshop lasting for several days and attended by about 35 participants. They worked together towards a vision for the Usakos Museum and looked in detail at the past and at the significance of the items. A hybrid session enabled an exchange of ideas between the workshop participants and the museum team from Bern.<\/p>","button":{"__typename":"Link","id":"0","label":null,"isExternal":null,"href":""}},{"__typename":"Gallery","id":"444","title":"Photos of the workshop","showTitle":true,"anchor":"section-444","menuTitle":null,"showInMenus":false,"variant":null,"label":"Discover","button":{"__typename":"Link","id":"0","label":null,"isExternal":null,"href":""},"items":{"nodes":[{"__typename":"GalleryImagesItem","title":null,"variant":"sm","images":[{"caption":"Samuel Bachmann, curator of ethnology: Africa and Aline Minder, head of program, at the workshop with people from Usakos. \u00a9 Foto: Yvett \/\/Ho\u00ebbes","image":{"width":2560,"height":1706,"src":"https:\/\/cms.bhm.ch\/assets\/BHM-LAB\/Usakos\/Usakos1.jpg","alt":"Usakos1","orientation":"2","focusPointX":0,"focusPointY":0,"id":"387","__typename":"Image"},"id":"218"},{"caption":"Tuuda Haitula, Museum Development Officer of the Museums Association of Namibia at the workshop in Usakos, Namibia. \u00a9 Foto: Yvett \/\/Ho\u00ebbes","image":{"width":2560,"height":1706,"src":"https:\/\/cms.bhm.ch\/assets\/BHM-LAB\/Usakos\/Usakos3.jpg","alt":"Usakos3","orientation":"2","focusPointX":0,"focusPointY":0,"id":"386","__typename":"Image"},"id":"219"},{"caption":"Around 35 participants spent two days discussing the future of the museum. \u00a9 Foto: Yvett \/\/Ho\u00ebbes","image":{"width":2560,"height":1706,"src":"https:\/\/cms.bhm.ch\/assets\/BHM-LAB\/Usakos\/Usakos4.jpg","alt":"Usakos4","orientation":"2","focusPointX":0,"focusPointY":0,"id":"388","__typename":"Image"},"id":"220"},{"caption":"Ndapewoshali Ashipala, Director of the Museums Association of Namibia. \u00a9 Foto: Yvett \/\/Ho\u00ebbes","image":{"width":2560,"height":1706,"src":"https:\/\/cms.bhm.ch\/assets\/BHM-LAB\/Usakos\/Usakos5.jpg","alt":"Usakos5","orientation":"2","focusPointX":0,"focusPointY":0,"id":"389","__typename":"Image"},"id":"221"},{"caption":"People from Usakos spent two days discussing the future of the museum. \u00a9 Foto: Yvett \/\/Ho\u00ebbes","image":{"width":2560,"height":1707,"src":"https:\/\/cms.bhm.ch\/assets\/BHM-LAB\/Usakos\/Usakos6.jpg","alt":"Usakos6","orientation":"2","focusPointX":0,"focusPointY":0,"id":"390","__typename":"Image"},"id":"222"},{"caption":"Visit and guided tour at the Usakos Museum. \u00a9 Foto: Yvett \/\/Ho\u00ebbes","image":{"width":2560,"height":1706,"src":"https:\/\/cms.bhm.ch\/assets\/BHM-LAB\/Usakos\/Usakos7.jpg","alt":"Usakos7","orientation":"2","focusPointX":0,"focusPointY":0,"id":"391","__typename":"Image"},"id":"223"},{"caption":"Chalden Sabab (Project Officer Usakos Museum), Samuel Bachmann (Bernisches Historisches Museum), Aline Minder (Bernisches Historisches Museum), Tuuda Haitula (Museums Association of Namibia), Ndapewoshali Ashipala (Museums Association of Namibia (left to ","image":{"width":2560,"height":1707,"src":"https:\/\/cms.bhm.ch\/assets\/BHM-LAB\/Usakos\/Usakos10.jpg","alt":"Usakos10","orientation":"2","focusPointX":0,"focusPointY":0,"id":"393","__typename":"Image"},"id":"224"}],"id":"76"}]}}],"id":"74","__typename":"ElementalArea"},"showHeaderImage":true,"id":"50","locales":[{"label":"Deutsch","locale":"de_CH","href":"\/de\/museum-im-wandel\/bhm-lab\/usakos-making-of-common-history"},{"label":"Fran\u00e7ais","locale":"fr_CH","href":"\/fr\/le-musee-en-mutation\/bhm-lab\/usakos-making-of-common-history"},{"label":"English","locale":"en_CH","href":"\/en\/a-changing-museum\/bhm-lab\/usakos-making-of-common-history"}]}}}

Usakos – Making of Common History