ABSTRACT
Zoos explain the relationship between the species, including humans: Germanic animals were displayed separately from the others also to consolidate their alleged superiority over other animals; just as the Nazi ideology differentiated between human 'races', this was clearly displayed also with regard to the animals. Departing from a display according to zoological systematic concepts, which had been the customary form for exhibiting animals during the nineteenth century, the German Zoo followed Hagenbeck's design of geographical landscapes and taxonomies. Before the creation of the German Zoo, Ludwig Heck, Lutz's Heck father and predecessor, had established a Vaterlandische Sammlung, which also presented Germanised animals. The German Zoo concurrently interpreted space in light of the ideologically charged myth of a Volk ohne Raum, while explicitly incorporating blood-and-soil metaphors of Teutonic strength. Reconciliation between past and future, restoration of the zoo as a civic institution – by carefully selecting which past to draw from – characterised the Berlin zoo in the Cold War era.
