Research project

Thanks to developments in the natural sciences - which were always also exploration and exploitation - a first globalisation took place with the end of the Age of Discovery with the beginning and during the 19th century, both in scientific-cultural and political-mercantile terms.
In the process, the exotic and the other of nature, but above all "the others" - namely other human cultures - came into the perspective of European nations.

This raises the question for us today: How did people in Europe, in the German-speaking world and especially between Hamburg as the "gateway to the world" and Berlin as Prussia's emerging centre of power and culture - see the world in the 19th century? Or to put it another way: In what way did the confrontation with the living world and foreign cultures take place in the 19th century?

Starting from this questioning leitmotif, we examine - from the perspective of natural history, but within the framework of interdisciplinary cooperation and international networking, using the example of the collection activities in connection with the museum of the "South Sea King" Johan Cesar VI Godeffroy - the relationships of man in the field of tension between nature and culture.

Natural History Collection: The Treasure of Mr Godeffroy
In the 19th century, the Hamburg merchant Johan Cesar VI Godeffroy owned the largest private natural history collection in the world. It was also the source of Hamburg's famous Natural History Museum. It was destroyed in 1943 - and is still waiting for its resurrection.

• Zeit.de (2013) by Matthias Glaubrecht - The treasure of Mr Godeffroy

Publications on Amalie Dietrich:

• Glaubrecht, M. 2011. Der Beutezug. Oder Mordfall Museum. Amalie Dietrich und das Museum Godeffroy. Geo, Heft 3/2011: 118-131.
• Glaubrecht, M. 2013. Das dunkle Geheimnis der Amalie Dietrich. Der Tagesspiegel, nr. 21726,
  vom 23. Juni 2013: S7
• FreiePresse.de (2015)
  Amalie Dietrich - Todesengel ist eine verzerrte Darstellung