The follow up event was organised on 19.04.24 in Coburg. Despite the rain still around 20 interested people took part in it.
For the follow-up activity, we chose to focus on the theme of remembrance work, a topic we found intriguing and relatively new to our organization. We decided to link this with an area we have worked on before: colonialism and colonial heritage. Our project team, consisting of active members of the association, collaborated to develop a concept for the follow-up activity. We decided to create a city tour. Postcolonial city tours, as well as those on other themes, have grown in popularity in bigger German cities over the past decade. We noticed that these tours are well-received by young people, motivating them to engage with the spaces they live in.
We aimed to develop the project not in a large city where similar offerings already exist, but in a medium-sized city with a unique historical background relevant to our theme. We chose Coburg, a northern Bavarian town, due to its significant connections to colonial history and because one of our active members has personal ties to the area, facilitating local engagement. We created a city tour for Coburg with a special focus on its colonial heritage, particularly how members of the Coburg ducal family (like Prince Albert and King Leopold) were involved in European colonial policies and how these historical connections have left traces in the city. During our research, we also discovered that Coburg played a unique role in Nazi history (being the first city with a Nazi mayor), so we decided to expand the city tour to include the theme “Coburg in the Nazi Era.” Our goal was to provide a critical view of the impacts of both colonial and Nazi eras on Coburg’s urban development, while also drawing connections to broader societal and global contexts. Working on this project was highly educational and exciting for us.
We can envision developing and conducting more city tours on various themes in the future. We conducted the city tour in April 2024, attracting about 20 interested participants, primarily young people from the active civil society in the town. We promoted the event through mailing lists and messenger groups, collaborating particularly with the association “Alternative Kultur Coburg.” The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Many participants expressed that they learned a lot of new information about the city they live in and showed a strong interest in further engaging with these topics. They also recommended that we continue this work, as they found the tour and the subjects both inspiring and fascinating