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Controversial kinship: From colonial rule to the Holocaust?
A new exhibition in Berlin examines how European colonialism and Nazism were connected, while addressing the dispute over how far the two histories can be compared. It highlights examples of shared practices and ideas, but also stresses that the Holocaust’s industrialised mass murder was distinct; the exhibition aims to explore the debate rather than settle it.
The German Historical Museum exhibition, curated by historian Stephan Malinowski, opens by placing a whip used in African colonies beside a canister of Zyklon B. It traces arguments that colonial territories helped develop racial ideologies and methods of domination, and notes that the Nazis later mobilised around 13 to 14 million forced labourers. The article says the scale of Nazi forced labour was comparable to the transatlantic slave trade, which lasted more than three centuries.
In short
- A Berlin exhibition explores links between colonial violence and Nazism.
- It highlights both shared practices and the Holocaust’s distinct character.
- Nazi rule mobilised around 13 to 14 million forced labourers.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Comparing colonialism and Nazism can illuminate how racial ideologies, coercive rule and forced labour developed across European history, and help explain continuities that might otherwise be overlooked. Supporters of the comparison argue that recognising connections does not make the histories identical, and that careful examination can deepen understanding of both.
The case against
Critics argue that drawing parallels risks flattening crucial differences in aims, context and methods, particularly the Holocaust’s systematic, industrialised mass murder. They worry that treating colonial violence and Nazi crimes as closely comparable could distort each history or imply an equivalence that the evidence does not support.
Explained simply
European empires ruled territories in Africa and elsewhere, using force and racial hierarchies to control local populations. Nazi Germany later built a dictatorship based on racist ideas and carried out the Holocaust, the systematic murder of six million European Jews, alongside persecution and mass killing of other groups.
Historians debate whether colonial rule and Nazism were connected through shared ideas or practices, and how far the histories can be compared. The debate also considers the millions of people forced to work for Nazi Germany during the Second World War, while recognising that the Holocaust’s organised mass murder had its own distinct history.