Of history and what remains. Or: What else I wanted to write about Canada 2/2

I wanted to write about so many museums, I have various raw texts and parts of texts on my cell phone, but for now they remain as they are: unedited, unpublished. And maybe I'll use all of this on another, upcoming visit - or, funnily enough: "BesUCH" also contains "book". Or or.

I'm still almost sorry, because I learned a lot at the Manitoba Museum in Winnipeg and I especially liked the part about Winnipeg today and the great and exciting exhibition design on immigration. I could hardly tear myself away from the objects of the city's migration history.

My hidden, absolutely irritating and unusual highlight object: photos of Nazis in Winnipeg in 1942:

- Please what?

Yes, exactly. You read that right: photos of the German Nazi occupation of Winnipeg.

However, this meant that remote Winnipeg even made it into New York newspapers and as far as New Zealand and other international news. The 'If day' was intended to show Canadians what life would be like in occupied Winnipeg - under Nazi occupation.

And it was intended to raise funds for the war effort against the Nazis.

A monstrous effort was made in Winnipeg, for one day, for a kind of public theater.

In addition to "What nonsense that was and should be!", I also noticed how proud the people in the photos were, those who wore Nazi uniforms, were 'allowed to wear' them, took part and I asked myself: how the German occupation force was portrayed in this publicly staged and planned play, an early form of re-enactment?

I suspect not. But who knows: I wanted to do a little more research, I only did half of it and now my resolution is: at some point I'll read more about it.

Completely different and still a firefighter at heart: the Fire Department Museum in Winnipeg.

The Inuit exhibition in the Winnipeg Art Gallery was extremely exciting - unfortunately I forgot my cell phone, so no photos.

THERE COULD BE A PHOTO HERE.

WHALKBONES CREATED BY ARTISTS

AND SOME OTHER THINGS.

I absolutely loved the Royal Alberta Museum (RAM) in Edmonton. I lie at the feet of the exhibition designers and curators!

After all the museums and exhibitions I have seen so far in Canada, the RAM is very far ahead - perhaps even the one I liked best in terms of design, structure, text and approach. I found the exhibition, which opened in 2018, to be extremely appealing, to the point, inviting for everyone, lots of sound and film and yet in such a way that I as a visitor was not overwhelmed. There are also exhibition parts that were designed and developed in collaboration with various social groups and large parts of the museum on the topic of what a museum actually does, who works there and what the employees do.

I thought it was all great! I would have liked to have met some of the curators, but I wanted to give priority to some of the other research and conversation partners. Next time!

The small and very fine Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies about art, nature, history and culture in Banff!

Also cool and in addition to the history of people and animals on site over the centuries and the construction of the trans-Canadian railway, there was also a part about a Canadian soldier who was a Nazi prisoner of war in Lamsdorf and who, in addition to keeping a diary, also drew there.

The Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, which has been partially closed for about a year because of the controversy over how to deal with the issue of colonialism/decolonization and the history of indigenous peoples as well as residential schools in British Columbia . Some parts of the exhibition can still be viewed and have been minimally “reshaped” by a kind of temporary additional exhibition.

The empty exhibition rooms are either filled with, for example, a dinosaur exhibition.

One might cynically think: you can't go wrong with their history in Canada at the moment... It also brings visitors and especially children (including parents/grandparents).

All in all, even if I only presented parts of it in a mosaic: I loved these months of the research trip - how long it hasn't been.

It certainly wasn't the last time I was in Canada.

There are moments when I feel a little sad that my days in Canada are now over,

for now.

If language creates reality, then it should also be written here: This country is definitely an option for living and working. Dear universe, if there is something there, I am a grateful buyer. :D

But now first across the Pacific,

towards the southwest,

Turn the globe a little further and into the summer of 2023/2.0 - like crazy!