In its new exhibition “Resistance. How to approach racism in Berne” presented until June 1, 2025, the Berne History Museum addresses the question of racism and anti-racism in Switzerland. Awareness-raising work based on a controversial fresco, a colonial heritage of the city of Bern.
In 2019, a mural in a local school in Bern sparked controversy over racism and the colonial heritage of the federal capital. The fresco represents an alphabet book. Problem: the letter “n” represents a black child, the letter “c”, a Chinese child and the letter “i”, an Indigenous person.
The debate intensified during the summer of 2020 following the global protest wave triggered by the Black Lives Matter movement: administrations, media, cultural and educational institutions, private individuals are fighting for the power of interpretation and for a appropriate treatment of the racist motifs in this painting.
As part of a public competition, the city of Bern was convinced by the proposal of the association Das Wandbild muss weg! (The wall paint needs to go!). She asks that the mural leave the school and go to a museum. The discourse on the history and current events of racism in Bern can thus be extended to a large audience. Four years later, the mural became part of the collection of the Bern History Museum.
Understanding racism and anti-racism in Switzerland
The mural dates from 1949 and the artists who made it were known to be socialists. Already in the 1980s, the mural was questioned by school staff and parents.
Today, this fresco has found its place in the History Museum of Bern. “We have every interest in exposing this image, in contextualizing it. The exhibition is an opportunity to know and understand racism in Switzerland, but also to know the history of anti-racism in Switzerland”, underlines in the 12:30 p.m. of April 24 Izabel Barros, historian and activist for the association Das Wandbild muss weg!
The idea of the museum is to propose a societal debate around the fresco. The fresco having been covered by activists, the museum offers it as is in order to question both racism and anti-racist movements.
The exhibition “Resistance. How to approach racism in Berne” puts the fresco into context, but also other objects in the museum and which remind us that school careers in Switzerland have long been marked by stereotypical images of non-religious people. white, racialized.
The museum, the best place for this heritage
The debate is not new. For several years, the question has arisen for some to unbolt statues representing colonialist figures – this is the case of the controversial statue of Xavier de Pury in Neuchâtel in particular. For others, removing these figures from public space would amount to erasing part of history. “In fact, these monuments are not a part of history. They are narrative. It is propaganda of a specific moment in history. Monumentality must express society as it is”, responds for her part Izabel Barros.
The historian is convinced that the museum is the best place for these elements of history, because they can thus be contextualized and explained in all their complexity, taking into account the opinions and expertise of professionals.
At the Berne History Museum, the public is invited to critically question the history and current events of racism and colonialism in Berne, how to question existing images of history and to help shape future stories. The exhibition is supplemented by important educational material, in order to raise awareness among young and old.
Comments collected by Manuela Salvi
Web adaptation: ld
“Resistance. How to approach racism in Bern”, Berne History Museum, from April 25, 2024 to June 1, 2025.
