Kristina Jõekalda // Zwei Wanderausstellungen über die Ostseeprovinzen Russlands (1917/18)
Two travelling propaganda exhibitions about the Russian Baltic Sea provinces were held in Germany during the First World War, serving as textbook examples of the colonial instrumentalization of history to justify plans for territorial expansion, and combining the aims of the Germans and the Baltic Germans in the turmoil of war and Kunstraub. In 1917–1918, the Kurland-Ausstellung was exhibited in Munich, Stuttgart, Darmstadt, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Karlsruhe, Straßburg (Strasbourg), Breslau (Wrocław), Hanover, Berlin and Leipzig, organized by the Museum und Institut zur Kunde des Auslanddeutschtums und zur Förderung deutscher Interessen im Ausland. In 1918, the Livland-Estland-Ausstellung was shown in Berlin, Hamburg and Lübeck – under Prince Henry of Prussia’s patronage; this time the stimulus and much of the funding came from the Verein für das Deutschtum im Ausland. Among soil, nutrition, hunting and economic data, not only Estonian and Latvian national costumes or handicrafts, but also original medieval and contemporary art works were transported to Germany in the middle of the battles. During her stay at the ZI, Jõekalda is developing her manuscript and idea for a reconstruction exhibition on the topic.
[Caption: Kurland-Ausstellung, präsentiert in der Münchener Volkszeitung, 1918.]