Histories of Tanzania

The Hehe ruler Mkwawa played this zither after his warriors turned back a German advance into his kingdom in 1891. At the opening, his great-grandson, the young Hehe chief, stood in front of it and told the Tagesspiegel he looks forward to it going home. The museum says the show will travel to the National Museum of Tanzania after Berlin, and that preparations to return these objects for good are under way.

Curators from Dar es Salaam, Songea and Berlin made it together, with Tanzanian community members speaking in texts and filmed interviews beside the objects. It runs from Indian Ocean trade to German and British rule, with the weight on colonial violence. You walk between teak and bamboo structures modelled on Tanzanian woven baskets and fish traps, and Amani Abeid's comics hang as A4 pads you can tear a page from.

The Berliner Zeitung's critic called it beautiful and hugely illuminating. It fills rooms 211 and 212 on the second floor and is covered by the €9 collections ticket.