Na­tu­re, power and faith: a look at the ex­hi­bi­ti­on at the Deut­sches His­to­ri­sches Mu­se­um

The ex­hi­bi­ti­on “Na­tu­re and Ger­man Histo­ry. Faith — Bio­lo­gy — Power”, which can be seen at the Ger­man His­to­ri­cal Mu­se­um in Ber­lin from 14 No­vem­ber 2025, ta­kes vi­si­tors on a jour­ney th­rough 800 ye­ars of Ger­man histo­ry. From the spi­ri­tu­al con­cepts of na­tu­re of Hil­de­gard von Bin­gen to the ideo­lo­gi­cal ap­pro­pria­ti­ons of the Na­zi era and the eco­lo­gi­cal mo­ve­ments of the 20th cen­tu­ry, the ex­hi­bi­ti­on traces the di­ver­se mea­nings and po­li­ti­cal in­stru­men­ta­li­sa­ti­ons of the con­cept of na­tu­re.

In fi­ve the­ma­ti­cal­ly or­ga­nis­ed rooms, the ex­hi­bi­ti­on shows how the con­cept of “na­tu­re” has ch­an­ged again and again in Ger­man histo­ry and how stron­gly the­se terms we­re po­li­ti­cal­ly char­ged. It in­vi­tes us to re­vi­sit ques­ti­ons about the power of de­fi­ni­ti­on, rights of ac­cess to na­tu­re and the ef­fects of so­cial cri­ses on our un­der­stan­ding of na­tu­re. Cu­ra­ted by Prof Dr Ju­lia Voss, the ex­hi­bi­ti­on com­bi­nes sci­en­ti­fic depth wi­th cur­rent so­cial de­ba­tes.