The Struggle: South African Freedom Fighters in Berlin

Opening Programme 8.5.2024:

• 5 pm: Welcome by Daniel Neugebauer (HKW) (Magnus Hirschfeld Bar)
• 5.15 pm: Introduction to the exhibition by HTW students
• 5.30 pm: Panel discussion "Amandla! In Berlin" with the former freedom fighters Arnold Isaac and
  Bert Seraje i exile in Berlin, moderated by Anne Benza-Madingou
• 6.30 pm: Lecture Performance „Music Of The Struggle" by Luyanda Mpahlwa (Safi Faye Saal)
  until 8 pm: independent viewing of the exhibit

2024 marks the anniversary of two special events: The 30th anniversary of the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa and the 140th anniversary of the Berlin Conference. To commemorate these occasions, students of the Master's degree programme in Museum Management and Communication at HTW Berlin have developed an exhibition entitled "1884 - 1994 | 110 Years of Anti-Colonial Resistance | The Struggle - South African Freedom Fighters in Berlin".

The narrative of the exhibition is based on video interviews with seven South African freedom fighters and activists who lived in exile in Berlin between 1960 and 1990. Berlin, a former colonial metropolis, also appears as another protagonist. The interviews broaden the perspectives on Berlin's urban history, by showing the position and struggle of South African exiles in East and West Berlin. One of the interviewees is the renowned architect Luyanda Mpahlwa.

Among the objects on display are record covers from the international anti-apartheid movement, e.g. by Miriam Makeba, Eddy Grant and Stevie Wonder. In addition, newspaper articles and records from the solidarity "Festival of Political Song" in the GDR and various solidarity posters from the GDR and FRG as well as historical photos from South Africa are on display.

The exhibition is related to the current main exhibition at HKW, Echos of the Brother Countries. What is the Price of Memory and What is the Cost of Amnesia? Or: Visions and Illusions of Anti-Imperialist Solidarities It offers a first insight into the results of the extensive work which will be on display at the Stadtmuseum / Ephraim Palais as of November 2024.

Supported and funded by Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung.

Website: https://www.hkw.de/en/programme/events/the-struggle-south-africans-in-exile-in-berlin