Regional identity and national identity. Provincial museums in Prussia at the turn of the twentieth century

Abstract

In European countries at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, there was a trend to create regional museums. In Prussia they were opened in the capitals of twelve Prussian provinces, and they had an important role in shaping the regional identity of the province. In three German regions, the situation was more complicated, as they were inhabited by representatives of another nation: the Province of Posen with a Polish population and Schleswig-Holstein with a Danish population, and Alsace inhabited by the Alsatians, a region situated within the Empire but strongly influenced by Prussia. In these regions, museums operated against the complex historical background and collecting conditions, and their functions and goals were often viewed with indifference or hostility by the local non-German population. In Schleswig-Holstein, the point of contention were prehistoric relics, including the famous Flensburg collection, created by Danes and taken over by Prussians. In Poznań, the German museum ignored the Polish audience, following a policy that aimed at strengthening the local identity of German residents. The museum in Strasbourg tried to exert similar influence, focusing on the historical and artistic ties between Alsace and Germany. However, the Alsatians themselves already sought their own, separate local identity.