100 years after the end of the German colonial empire: Declaration of the nationwide network for the decolonization of the culture of remembrance

November 25, 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the end of the German colonial empire in Africa, Oceania and Asia. The brutal assertion of German interests during the 35 years of direct colonial rule cost the lives of an estimated one million people – mainly of African origin. Not only Germany’s genocide of the Herero and Nama, but also the Maji-Maji War and Lettow-Vorbeck’s campaign in East Africa during World War I were crimes against humanity.

But the colonial period did not only change the former colonies permanently. It is true that colonialism and anti-colonial resistance have been suppressed from the collective memory of the German majority society. Nevertheless, this society, too, has been decisively shaped by 600 years of European colonialism. The persistent structural and institutional racism bears witness to this. This is reflected in hundreds of colonial racist street names and monuments. This is evidenced by the presence of thousands of mortal remains, which were taken to German collections for inhuman research. Tens of thousands of cultural assets in German museums, appropriated in the context of colonial violence, are a reminder of this.

The colonial overexploitation of man and nature continues today as a continuing global injustice, as an unequal distribution of wealth, resources and political influence. People in Africa and in the African Diaspora are particularly affected by structural discrimination. In order to point this out and to acknowledge the contribution of people in Africa and in the African diaspora in coming to terms with the challenges arising from this, the United Nations has proclaimed the International Decade for People of African Descent in 2015.

For these reasons, we welcome the fact that in its Coalition Agreement 2018 the Federal Government has for the first time identified the colonial past as one of the central themes of remembrance culture in Germany. At the same time, we strongly protest against their view that this would only be about “German colonial history”. For not only is colonial history not a national history, but an interwoven history of colonizers and colonized, which can no longer be interpreted one-sidedly from Germany. Above all, it is also unacceptable that German colonialism – in contrast to the Nazi reign of terror clearly condemned in the coalition agreement and the SED regime, which is also critically evaluated – is not explicitly recognised as a reign of injustice.

We call on the Federal Government, the federal states and the municipalities:

– to name colonialism as an injustice in accordance with Article 14 of the Declaration of the UN World Conference against Racism of Durban 2001, which the Federal Government signed, and to condemn it unequivocally.
– to immediately stop all research on ancestors from colonial contexts that does not serve the purpose of repatriating them. The identification and return of human remains abused for colonial racist research is one of the most urgent historical-political tasks of our time and should be carried out together with experts from the societies of origin. The affected, formerly colonised states and communities must be informed immediately of the whereabouts of their abducted ancestors, who must be recorded in an online database. In order to accomplish this task as quickly as possible, sufficient funds should be made available at short notice. A government who spends 600 million Euros on the construction of the Humboldt Forum in the Berlin Palace should not speak of a lack of funds at this point.

– to follow the example of the federal states of Hamburg and Berlin, which have already apologised to the descendants of the victims of the German genocide (1904-08) against the OvaHerero and Namas. It is unacceptable that an acknowledgement of the genocide and an official request for an apology by the Bundestag and the Federal Government has still not been made despite years of German-Namibian government negotiations. According to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the self-declared representatives* of the Herero and Nama must no longer be excluded from these negotiations which are decisive for them. Within the framework of the trialogue they have called for, the amount of compensation to be paid to the Herero and Nama communities for the land and livestock theft carried out by the German government in the course of the genocide is also to be negotiated.

– to provide and promote provenance research on cultural objects from colonial contexts in German museums and collections, which has apparently been neglected for decades, with considerably more financial resources. The object histories, the circumstances of the unequal appropriation or theft of cultural property must be worked out in close cooperation with experts from the societies concerned and successively and in several languages placed in a publicly accessible online database. The societies concerned should be proactively informed about the whereabouts of cultural treasures appropriated in colonial violent contexts.

– The planned return of objects from Hendrik Witboois private property by Baden-Württemberg should be followed promptly by further restitutions of cultural assets appropriated by force. We reject the proposal to lend stolen objects to the societies of origin, as is intended for the unique Benin bronzes, as an unreasonable demand on the expropriated. Rather, the restitution of all objects from colonial contexts, whose lawful acquisition cannot be proven, must be offered. The conditions for the restitution of such cultural treasures from the period 1884-1918, when parts of Africa, Oceania and Asia were under German rule, should be created in the course of the next four years.

– to develop comprehensive concepts for a critical examination of colonial history and its consequences and for the decolonisation of the culture of remembrance at the federal, state and local levels. These concepts are to be developed and implemented with the significant participation of the descendants of colonised people and in close cooperation with civil society initiatives.

– to erect memorials for the victims of colonialism, enslavement and racism as well as learning and memorial sites at the Platz der Berliner Afrika-Konferenz 1884/85 and in other cities in Germany. The national and regional organisations of the descendants of colonised people should be decisively involved in the conception of such memorials from the very beginning. These places of remembrance, like those on the Nazi reign of terror and the SED regime, should be taken into account in the federal memorial site concept. The descendants of the colonized persons are to be financially supported in the construction and equipping of memorials as well as learning and memorial sites in Germany’s former colonies.

– To rename streets that honour colonial actors and criminals or continue racist labguage in honour of personalities of the anti-colonial resistance. The naming stories of the streets are to be made visible on an information board. Critical commentary boards are needed on streets whose names refer to colonial history through place names or in other ways.
– to globalise and diversify the teaching of history in schools and universities. The critical examination of European colonialism and racism as well as the remembrance and appreciation of anti-colonial resistance must be given a central place in the curricula of schools, universities and teacher training institutions. The cooperation of educational institutions with external education experts from initiatives for decolonisation and against racism should be more strongly promoted. The new federal programme “Jugend Erinnert” is to be expanded thematically to include a critical examination of European and German colonialism. In addition, a Namibian-German textbook commission is to be convened.

– to decolonise the public museums. In their representation, most European museums are still based on the Eurocentric and nationalistic ideas of the 19th century, which led to a racist construction of the non-European “Other”. Moreover, in the exhibition narratives, the violent colonial history is often played down or concealed. The descendants of the colonized must be invited as authoritative experts* to be included in the museum team.

Signatories:
AfricAvenir International, AFROTAK TV cyberNomads, Arbeitskreis Hamburg Postkolonial, Arbeitskreis Koloniales Vergessen. Quo Vadis Hamburg? Arbeitskreis Panafrikanismus München, Arca-Afrikanisches Bildungszentrum, Augsburg Postkolonial, Berliner Entwicklungspolitischer Ratschlag (BER), Cottbus postkolonial und postsozialistisch, decolonize Jena, Decolonise Academia, Tübingen, DÜsseldorf postkolonial, Dresden Postkolonial, FuturAfrik – Forum für Globale Gerechtigkeit, Halle Postkolonial, Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD), kassel postkolonial, Kirchliche Arbeitsstelle Südliches Afrika (KASA), Leipzig Postkolonial, [muc] münchen postkolonial, Potsdam postcolonial, Schwarze Diaspora Hochschulgruppe Potsdam, Tanzania-Network.de