The Communist Museum of Palestine + Joshua Schwebel

Opening: Friday, 23 October from 7.00 pm

Exhibition: 24 October – 22 November 2026

Open by arrangement: +49 178 3298 106 or 

after-the-butcher is moved to open In Solidarity With You, All Of You, One By One, Beloved Multitudes of Gaza an exhibition in affinity with the current exhibition *Palästina zwischen Augen* at nGbK Berlin.

For three years now, we have been witnessing news with images of a continuum of destruction. We regard this systematic obliteration of Gaza before our very eyes as a historic turning point and, at the same time, as a continuation of a policy of illegal occupation and expulsion that has persisted for many decades: the Nakba – the Palestinian catastrophe that turned hundreds of thousands into uprooted refugees.

Every German government since the end of the Second World War has been deeply entangled in this violent policy through an unbreakable political -military alliance with Israel, which is portrayed solely as a Jewish sanctuary and, as it were, the ultimate anti-Holocaust entity, without taking into account the devastating social and political upheavals it causes in Palestine, the West Asian region and for global Judaism.

As artists living and working here in the successor state to Nazi fascism, we bear a great responsibility. We wish to fulfill this responsibility by taking a sensitive yet firm stand against all life destructive policies, and by giving space and a voice to those who are marginalised and fighting for our-their liberation.

Joshua Schwebel’s artistic contribution consists of two interconnected elements. A floorwork situates Germany’s military involvement in the colonisation of Palestine since the early 20th century, embedding aerial surveillance images taken by the German airforce in 1917 into the very ground of the space. A sound piece features excerpts from a conversation between Schwebel and Thomas Kilpper that reflects on perspectives and positions towards Palestine from within Berlin, where Jewish and Palestinian subjectivities are differentially instrumentalised by Germany to avoid addressing its own complicity in warcrimes, genocide, and criminalization of the Palestine solidarity movement. 

In parallel, after-the-butcher hosts the Communist Museum of Palestine, which is museum rethought through anarchist, abolitionist, feminist and anti-colonial ethics. Appealing to our everyday communism, it aims to contribute to a cultural revival that is inspired by the life affirming resistance of Palestinians and to overcoming the cultures of hierarchy and domination, mass extermination, impunity and genocide. For this iteration, the Museum invites all artists to exhibit their solidarity toward a free Palestine by sharing small artistic contributions to be collected and displayed in the gallery. These contributions  and the museum’s entire collection is destined to arrive to homes, cultural and social spaces in Palestine . 

The title of this manifestation of the museum is ‘The Unavowable Holocaust’ and is derived from a text by the Anti-Denialsit Coalition published by Dabartis as part of d-0 د٠. which is an invitation to transcommunally delink from and abolish all the forms and institutions committed to ongoing Nakba.  

You can read the museum’s call and other relevant materials here:

https://communistmuseum.org/berlin

We will have editions of the Unavowable Holocaust  available at the gallery as well as digitally here :

https://d-0.org/pub/d-0-adc-unavowable-holocaust.pdf

If you have any questions or would like to take part, please feel free to contact the museum here: berlin [at] communistmuseum.org