6. Juli 2026, von Merle-Marie Kruse

Foto: Salzgeber

When: Wed, 08.07.2026 6:00 PM until 9:00 PM
Where: ESA 1 (Hauptgebäude), 20146 Hamburg, Lecture Hall K (Albrecht-Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Hörsaal)

„Das leere Grab“ / „The Empty Grave“ 
a Film by Agnes Lisa Wegner & Cece Mlay
Germany/Tanzania 2024, 97 minutes, original version in Suaheli, German und Englishh, partly with German subtitles

Filmscreening and talk with:
Christoph Holthof (kurhaus production, Baden-Baden),
Dr. Laibor Kalanga Moko (University of Hamburg),
Gabriel Schimmeroth, M.A. (MARKK, Hamburg)

Host: Prof. Dr. Kristin Merle (University of Hamburg)

"The Empty Grave" follows the emotional journey of two Tanzanian families in search of their stolen ancestors. Their quest leads them to Germany where tens of thousands of human remains from former German colonies are stored in museum depots - a haunting legacy of colonial plunder in the early 20th century, taken for racist research and as macabre trophies.

Set in the present, the film unveils the enduring traces and traumas inflicted by colonial crimes on families and communities. It navigates the obscure maze of German and Tanzanian bureaucracy, revealing the struggle to reckon with this painful history. While the issue has gained politica attention, the film shifts perspectives and highlights the resilience of the families while probing the complexity of identifying an repatriating these human remains. 

The event is part of the lecture series "Collective Responsibility: Racism (and Criticism of It) in Higher Education" in summer semester 2026. 

Our Code of Conduct applies to both in-person and online events.

Code of Conduct of the project "Collective Responsibility: Racism (and Criticism of It) in Higher Education"

We understand colonialism as a system of exploitation, violence and inequality that is permeated by racism, which produces and reinforces it. Colonial history and its reappraisal is, in a critical-reflexive sense, the reappraisal of a "shared history", a divided history that must be analysed and understood in its global interconnectedness and continuities.

Therefore, we cannot tolerate any open or subliminal xenophobic, racist, anti-Semitic, sexist, discriminatory and/or colonial-revisionist statements, neither in analogue nor in digital events and discussions.

Further information
Event website
Program for summer semester 2026 (PDF)

Contact
diversity@uni-hamburg.de<br />gleichstellung.gw@uni-hamburg.de(diversity"AT"uni-hamburg.de)