Berlin Zoological Garden (1844–today)

From 1910 onwards, Ada and Emil Nolde lived near the Zoological Garden on Tauentzienstraße; sometimes they could even hear the animals above the noise of the city. Emil Nolde was repeatedly drawn to the enclosures, especially in the winter of 1923/24. Accompanied by his wife and equipped with paint and paper, he captured big cats, bears and other animals in watercolours. These were perhaps a substitute for the various long-distance trips that he had to cancel as a result of Germany’s defeat in the First World War and the ensuing inflation of the early 1920s.

The Berlin Zoo was also hit hard by the rapid devaluation of currency: in 1922, it even had to close its doors to the public for several months due to financial constraints. Over the decades, the Zoological Garden, which opened in 1844, had established itself as a firm part in the lives of middle-class Berliners. Visitors would not only come to see the animals, but also to spend time in the café or to attend concerts. At the same time, the concept of the zoo as a living natural history museum clearly reflects German colonial ideas. In order to present “distant, foreign lands” to the visitors, the animals shipped in from all over the world were usually housed in cramped cages or exoticised enclosure architecture. From 1871 onwards, people from different cultures were also displayed like objects in racist colonial exhibitions known as “Völkerschauen” or “human zoos”. Although interest in such inhuman shows waned in the 1920s once the German colonial empire came to an end, they continued to take place until 1952.

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