Martha Ndumbe: Colonial Legacies in Wedding

The tour explores the colonial histories embedded in the streets of Wedding and Gesundbrunnen, through the story of Martha Ndumbe.
About this Event

Part of Berlin by Foot, this tour explores the colonial and racist histories embedded in the streets of Wedding and Gesundbrunnen – through the story of Martha Ndumbe and the places that continue to carry these histories today.

Berlin by Foot with Justice Mvemba

What can the life of one Berlin woman tell us about colonialism, Nazi persecution and the histories still written into the city around us?

And what happens when a city decides to change not only how it remembers its past, but whom it chooses to remember?

This walking tour is run in cooperation with deSta – Dekoloniale Stadtführung.
It begins at Martha-Ndumbe-Platz, the former Nettelbeckplatz, which was renamed in 2025 after decades of debate around colonial traces in Berlin’s public space.

Born in Berlin in 1902 to a German mother and a Cameroonian father, Martha Ndumbe lived a life shaped by racism, classism and social exclusion. During the Nazi era, she was persecuted and eventually deported to the Ravensbrück concentration camp in 1944, where she died in February 1945.

Her story provides the starting point for a wider journey through Wedding and Gesundbrunnen, exploring the connections between German colonialism, racism under National Socialism and their lasting impact on the city today.

The square itself embodies this shift in perspective. For more than a century it was named after Joachim Nettelbeck, a German colonial advocate who had served as chief mate on ships involved in the trafficking of enslaved people. Its renaming as Martha-Ndumbe-Platz in 2025 followed years of campaigning and became part of a broader effort to critically reassess Berlin’s colonial legacy.

Highlights on the tour include:

• The story of Martha Ndumbe and the history behind the renaming of Martha-Ndumbe-Platz
• The colonial legacy of the former Nettelbeckplatz
• Traces of German colonialism in Wedding and Gesundbrunnen
• Racism, exclusion and persecution during the Nazi era
• The ways colonial and racist structures continued beyond 1945
• Humboldthain and its monumental flak towers
• Berlin’s ongoing debates around memory, public space and decolonisation

Along the way, the tour asks how exploitation, oppression and violence leave their marks on a city – not only in monuments and street names, but in institutions, narratives and everyday life. It also looks at the activists and initiatives challenging these historical continuities and changing the way Berlin remembers its past.

Your guide:
Justice Mvemba is the founder of deSta – Dekoloniale Stadtführung, Berlin's only company dedicated exclusively to tours on colonial history. An entrepreneur and political educator, she combines historical context with personal perspectives and critical analysis, examining colonial legacies not only in monuments and street names, but also in institutions and everyday thinking. deSta also offers lunch & learns and workshops for companies.

We will meet at the fountain in the centre of Martha-Ndumbe-Platz, Reinickendorfer Str. 110, 13347 Berlin. The tour will begin promptly at 2.15 pm.

From there, we will make our way through Wedding and Gesundbrunnen before ending at the flak towers in Humboldthain Park.

Berlin’s history isn’t only found in museums – it is written into its streets, squares and the names we use every day. Join Justice Mvemba to uncover some of the stories that have long remained out of sight and discover Wedding from a new perspective!

It’s Berlin like you’ve never seen it, complete with a complimentary copy of The Berliner magazine!

Stay in the loop! Join our WhatsApp channel for live updates, meetup info & insider tips before the tour: https://www.the-berliner.com/Berlin-by-Foot/wa-channel

photo: imago/ritter