„Schaubarkeit“

Die Neuordnung des Berliner Museums für Völkerkunde in den 1920er Jahren

Abstract

At the turn of the twentieth century, Berlins Museum of Ethnology was criticized for being in a chaotic state. Established by the doyen of German ethnology, Adolf Bastian, and opened in 1886, it was based on his generation's ethnographic thinking and theories. Problems arose both from unfocused collecting and the politics of display. Halls, display cases, and cupboards were overcrowded and not very inviting for the layman. Even in that period a refurbishment of the museum was discussed with the intention of increasing its attractiveness. But it was not until the end of World War I that such ideas were established in Germany, and even then they merely fell on fertile ground during the Weimar republic. The Prussian Ministerium für
Wissenschaft, Kunst und Volksbildung (Ministry of Science) even imposed special measures to popularize the Museum of Ethnology and make it more 'viewable' (schaubar). The attempts to change it into a more pleasant and aesthetic form of display were discussed broadly and are symptomatic of the modernist discourse of Weimar Germany.