Vera Tönsfeldt
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Vera Tönsfeldt is a political anthropologist and museum curator whose work explores the intersections of migration, memory, and museum collections. Through collection-building and curatorial practice, she examines questions of representation, authorship, and the politics of interpretation, advocating for multiperspectival approaches to cultural heritage that foreground historically marginalized voices and challenge dominant historical narratives.
Since 2025, Tönsfeldt has been Head of Collections at DOMiD – the Documentation Centre and Museum of Migration in Germany, whose collection forms the foundation of the future national Museum Selma in Cologne. Previously, she worked as a project manager at the Documentation and Cultural Centre of German Sinti and Roma in Heidelberg, where she played a key role in establishing the institution's museum collections and developing new strategies for documenting minority histories.
Tönsfeldt studied European Ethnology and Art History at Kiel University. Her practice brings together critical heritage studies, museum work, and participatory approaches to rethink how collections can contribute to more inclusive, democratic, and contested cultures of memory.