Memorial plaque in Cottbus: Bilillee Machbuba and the memory of slavery

Memorial plaque in Cottbus: Bilillee Machbuba and the memory of slavery

In Cottbus, a significant sign was set on Wednesday: a memorial plaque for Bilillee Machbuba, a young girl and slave of the Prince Pückler, was inaugurated. The table is located at the Brandenburg Technical University of Cottbus-Senftenberg (BTU) and is part of the “Women's Sort” project, which focuses on the life stories of individual women in Germany. This award stands for an examination of the colonial history and the experiences of women who are often in the shade.

bilillee Machbuba was born around 1825 in the Kingdom of Gumma, today's Ethiopia. Her childhood was shaped by tragic strokes of fate: when she was eleven years old, her parents were murdered and she was captured by slave dealers. They brought them to a slave market in Cairo or Khartum over hundreds of kilometers, where it was finally bought by Prince Hermann Ludwig Heinrich von Pückler-Muskau at the age of around twelve. At that time Pückler was 52 years old and was on an extensive journey during which he described Machbuba as his "mistress".

a tragic story

soon after your purchase, Bilillee Pückler accompanied on his travels through Europe. She was introduced to the European nobles and lived in this foreign world for several years. When she finally arrived in Muskau 15 or 16 years old and weakened, her lifetime was already threatened. She only lived about six weeks and even attempted suicide. Shortly before her death, she sang over 120 oromo songs from her childhood to a Sorbian pastor.

The plaque should stimulate to think about Bilille's painful experiences and the associated colonial past. BTU President Gesine Grande emphasized how important to deal with colonial violence and what it means for European memory policy.

Bilillee Machbuba and her inheritance

Although Machbuba lived as a slave in a foreign country, she left a lasting track. Her name, the "lover" means, was given by Pückler and is central to her identity. Even after her death on October 27, 1840, her inheritance remained alive. Her songs, which she taught the slave tutor Karl Tutschek, were used for his work on an Oromo dictionary. Over 150 years after their death, these songs found their way to English in 1997, and some of them are seen as the "living library of the Oromo songs".

Around Cottbus there are now three other “women's locations” dedicated to different women. These memorial places are not only a tribute to the past, but also a sign of the ongoing discussion about gender, colonialism and our common history. The new memorial for Bilillee Machbuba should not only remind you, but also encourage you to actively deal with these topics.

More details and deeper insights into Bilillee Machuba's life can be found under the reports of rbb24 href = "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/machbuba"> wikipedia .