Addressing Germany’s Disturbing Colonial History in Africa
Germany’s colonial history, while not entirely forgotten, has remained a largely underexplored dimension of European exploitation and territorial incursions into Africa. However, this book takes significant strides to rectify that neglect. Authored by Henning Melber, who was born in 1950 to German immigrants settling in Namibia in 1967, the writer later became part of SWAPO, the Namibian liberation movement, and has emerged as a leading academic regarding Germany’s “colonial brand.”
Melber argues that recent discussions surrounding Germany’s colonial legacy have been impeded by societal amnesia, denialism, and a general lack of awareness among the German populace. His work serves as a “modest effort” to address this gap.
He contends that Germany’s colonial pursuits in Africa are often overshadowed by the atrocities of the Holocaust. Nevertheless, Melber also emphasizes that numerous high-ranking Nazis had colonial backgrounds, stating, “A colonial mentality remained an intrinsic part of the Weimar Republic and the Nazi era.” Therefore, analyzing Germany’s colonial governance in Africa can provide fresh insights into Nazism, racial ideologies, and the impact of colonization.
Roots of genocide
The book charts the time frame starting in the mid-1800s when Germany actively sought to expand its global influence and trading capabilities. In 1862, the Brandenburg African Company established the modest trading post of Great Friedrichsburg on what is now the coast of Ghana.
“By the turn of the 20th century,” informs Melber, “Imperial Germany had evolved into one of the largest colonial empires regarding foreign territories, referred to euphemistically as ‘acquisitions’.”
South West Africa – now Namibia – represents the most troubling legacy of German colonialism. Adolf Lüderitz of Bremen envisioned developing Lüderitz Bay, originally named Angra Pequena by the Portuguese, recognizing its potential not only in guano deposits but also as a hub for trade in copper, ostrich feathers, cattle, and firearms.
Lüderitz approached the German government, leading to the first raising of the German flag in the bay in 1884, marking the declaration of German South West Africa. However, an official German administration did not materialize until 1893 in this largely unprofitable colony.
Initially, Melber reveals, German colonists demonstrated little respect for the rights of indigenous populations. Indigenous leaders resisting colonization were coerced into “protection treaties” through military force or execution. By the mid-1890s, a surge of settlers began seizing land and livestock through violent and deceitful methods.
The local Ovaherero community maintained considerable control and economic significance until a devastating outbreak of cattle plague struck in 1896-97. This catastrophic loss of livestock rendered them more vulnerable and reliant on traders, land exchanges, and labor. By the decade’s end, the economy was increasingly dominated by settler-colonial interests.
This oppression eventually led to a rebellion that was met with extreme violence, including mass killings and “unlimited force of arms.” Those from the Nama and Ovaherero groups who dared to resist German rule were sent to concentration camps and subjected to forced labor, causing horrendous death rates. Many scholars categorize the period from 1904-1908 as genocide – the first recorded in the 20th century. Estimates of casualties range from 24,000 to 100,000 Ovaherero and 10,000 Nama, with thousands more driven into the desert to perish from dehydration.
As Melber observes: “If there are any keywords to characterize the main effects of German colonial rule for the indigenous people, these would include land fraud, genocide, contract labor, and apartheid.”
Violence and rebellion
Violence also played a crucial role in Germany’s efforts to assert control over Cameroon. The Hamburg Chamber of Commerce supported Adolph Woerman’s initiative to annex the Cameroon coast, allowing traders to evade taxes implemented by French and British colonial authorities. The expectation was that this would open up routes to the interior.
In 1884, with the backing of certain local Duala kings, a German flag was raised – yet these kings insisted on retaining “continued ownership of the land and recognition of the local chiefs as rulers of the Cameroons.” This hope proved to be unfounded, Melber notes.
Disputes arising from this situation led to conflict and German “pacification” strategies. By 1889, a direct German colonial administration was established. Land seizing and forced labor quickly became hallmarks of governance, including the recruitment in 1891 of a mercenary unit from Dahomey to carry out especially brutal acts and atrocities. Nonetheless, military administration persisted until the conclusion of German rule across half the territory.
Melber mentions numerous Africans who, through remarkable bravery, resisted against the invading Europeans.
He spotlights Prince Mpondo Akwa, son of King Dika Akwa, who had been educated in Germany and soon became a source of concern for the authorities. In 1902, he famously remarked that indigenous peoples would reject “being deprived of their black culture, law, and habits, which had existed long before the encounter with whites.”
Upon returning to Cameroon, he was jailed in June 1911 for allegedly making “German-phobic remarks” and was extrajudicially executed in 1914. Ultimately, as Melber points out, the Germans could not “reap the fruits of the seeds of terror they had sown.” A collaborative British and French invasion from September 1914 to January 1916 effectively ended the violent German presence, but it did not benefit the local inhabitants.
“Cameroon was shared and divided as prey between the British and French… which sowed new seeds of chronic internal conflict and violence,” Melber asserts.
An East African famine
In East Africa, German colonial rule in Tanganyika was driven by German citizen Carl Peters, who according to Melber, was fueled by “an imperialist nationalism coupled with social Darwinism.” The German East Africa Company was founded, and the Berlin Conference delineated German zones of influence that by 1886 included present-day Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi. German East Africa eventually became Germany’s largest colony.
Similar to South West Africa, Peters – described by Melber as “a megalomaniac convinced that ruthless violence was the only language the locals understood” – met resistance with open violence during a united Swahili and Arab uprising.
Colonists aimed to establish a plantation economy focused on sisal, coffee, rubber, and cotton cultivation, but labor shortages plagued these endeavors due to violent and unhealthy conditions. Hermann Wissmann was appointed commissioner for East Africa, arriving in Zanzibar in March 1889 and resorting to massacres against rebels, deploying mercenaries primarily from Sudan, Somalia, and Zulu backgrounds.
By the mid-1890s, rebellion was widespread, leading to the brutal quelling of the Maji Maji uprising – potentially resulting in the deaths of up to 300,000 people amidst famine spikes.
Changing blindness to the past
Reflecting on the brutal legacies found in Namibia, Cameroon, East Africa, and beyond, Melber asserts that Germany must “walk the walk” of reconciliation. “This entails giving due attention to the atrocities committed in the name of German ‘civilization’ abroad and addressing these historical injustices with the same seriousness as the later Nazi mass exterminations carried out domestically.”
He explores the topics of reparations, the restitution of artifacts, and contemporary narratives regarding Germany’s colonial past. Most significantly, he concludes that the government must promote public awareness and progressive education to elevate recent initiatives beyond “merely political symbols.”
To echo the book’s opening lines: “We cannot change the past, but we can change our blindness to the past.”
The Long Shadow of German Colonialism: Amnesia, Denialism and Revisionism
By Henning Melber
£30 Hurst Publishing
ISBN: 9781805260455