Universität Hamburg introduces Colonial PlacesFirst Scholarly App on Hamburg’s Colonial Past Goes Online

17 May 2023, by Newsroom editorial office

Photo: Universität Hamburg / Feuerböther

At the app presentation at the University Museum (from left): Prof. Dr. Jürgen Zimmerer, Katharina Fegebank, and Prof. Dr. Hauke Heekeren

Hamburg was the capital of Germany’s colonial enterprise and is now treading new paths as it reflects upon its colonial legacy. Where the Colonial Institute once trained people for service overseas, the research team at the research center for Hamburg’s (post-)colonial legacy headed by Prof. Dr. Jürgen Zimmerer has created an app that makes Hamburg’s colonial history accessible by smartphone.

Users can choose from 3 thematic tours—Politics, Culture, and Society; Business and Trade; and Science and Research—to get to know the colonial connections among various places in Hamburg, no prior knowledge necessary and at the frontiers of research. The research center is thus providing low-threshold access to colonial history and showing how history scholarship can contribute to a modern city.

Katharina Fegebank, Hamburg’s senator for science: “Hamburg is the gateway to the world, but also to the colonial world, as the research center for Hamburg’s (post)colonial legacy has impressively detailed in its publication of the same name. With the Colonial Places app, we have now made the information from the book digitally accessible for all Hamburg residents and tourists so that as many people as possible can discover these important scholarly findings. The app lets us go an interactive search for clues, whether we are taking a walk or sitting our our sofas, and sheds light on a chapter in our history that was invisible and dark for far too long. I am very thankful to everyone involved at the research center for their enormous commitment. The development of this app has once again shown how topical scientific communication can be.”

Prof. Dr. Hauke Heekeren, president of Universität Hamburg: “The Colonial Places app is a very good example of knowledge-exchange activities at Universität Hamburg and for its ‘opening to society’: anyone can download the available, free app for immediate use. Colonial places and history in Hamburg and on the University’s campus can now be scientifically illuminated, understood, and experienced. The app was made possible by funds from the Excellence Strategy. I thank Prof. Dr. Jürgen Zimmerer and his team at the research center for Hamburg’s (post)colonial legacy for their sound scholarly and practical work.”

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Zimmerer, head of the research center for Hamburg’s (post)colonial legacy: “It fills me with pride and joy that in this anniversary year, 140 years after Hamburg merchants initiated the founding of a colonial empire and 115 years after the founding of the Hamburg Colonial Institute, we are able present an app that allows us to share our research findings with the Hamburg public. The app also shows what modern historical scholarship can look like and what history can contribute to the great social debates of our time, for all generations and using the most cutting-edge technology.”

The app was developed using funds from the Excellence Strategy of the Federal and State Governments.