Germany’s colonial history, though not entirely erased, remains a significantly overlooked aspect of European exploitation and territorial expansion in Africa. This book makes notable efforts to address that oversight. Written by Henning Melber, who was born in 1950 to German immigrants who settled in Namibia in 1967, he later became involved with SWAPO, the Namibian liberation movement, and has established himself as a prominent scholar on Germany’s “colonial brand.”

Melber points out that current debates regarding Germany’s colonial legacy have been hindered by societal forgetfulness, denial, and a general lack of awareness within the German public. His work is presented as a “modest effort” to fill this void.

He asserts that Germany’s colonial ambitions in Africa often get eclipsed by the horrors of the Holocaust. However, he also highlights that many high-ranking Nazis had origins in colonialism, stating, “A colonial mentality persisted as an inherent aspect of both the Weimar Republic and the Nazi era.” Consequently, examining Germany’s colonial administration in Africa can yield new perspectives on Nazism, racial ideologies, and the effects of colonization.

Roots of genocide

The book outlines the timeline starting in the mid-1800s when Germany began to aggressively pursue its global influence and trade opportunities. In 1862, the Brandenburg African Company established a minor trading post named Great Friedrichsburg, located on what is now the Ghanaian coast.

“By the early 20th century,” Melber notes, “Imperial Germany had transformed into one of the largest colonial empires in terms of foreign territories, which were euphemistically referred to as ‘acquisitions’.”

South West Africa, which is now Namibia, signifies the most troubling inheritance of German colonialism. Adolf Lüderitz of Bremen had aspirations to develop Lüderitz Bay, originally called Angra Pequena by the Portuguese, recognizing its potential for guano deposits and as a center for trade in copper, ostrich feathers, cattle, and weaponry.

Lüderitz approached the German government, resulting in the first raising of the German flag in the bay in 1884, symbolizing the declaration of German South West Africa. However, it wasn’t until 1893 that an official German administration was established in this largely unyielding colony.

Initially, as Melber reveals, German colonists showed little regard for the rights of the indigenous populations. Indigenous leaders who opposed colonization were coerced into “protection treaties” through military threats or execution. By the mid-1890s, a wave of settlers began to seize land and livestock using violent and deceitful tactics.

The indigenous Ovaherero community maintained significant control and economic relevance 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 end of the decade, the economy was increasingly dominated by settler-colonial interests.

This oppression culminated in a rebellion that was met with horrific violence, including mass killings and “the unlimited use of military force.” Those from the Nama and Ovaherero groups who dared to resist German dominance were sent to concentration camps and subjected to forced labor, which resulted in horrific death rates. Many scholars classify the period from 1904-1908 as genocide, the first recorded in the 20th century. Casualty estimates range from 24,000 to 100,000 Ovaherero and 10,000 Nama, with thousands more driven into the desert to die of thirst.

As Melber observes: “If there are any keywords to encapsulate the primary impacts of German colonial rule on indigenous people, these would include land fraud, genocide, contract labor, and apartheid.”

Violence and rebellion

Violence was also a decisive element in Germany’s bid for control over Cameroon. The Hamburg Chamber of Commerce endorsed Adolph Woerman’s initiative to annex the Cameroon coast, facilitating traders in evading taxes imposed by French and British colonial powers. It was anticipated that this would create access routes to the inland.

In 1884, with support from certain local Duala kings, a German flag was raised; however, these kings insisted on retaining “continued ownership of the land and recognition of the local chiefs as rulers of the Cameroons.” Unfortunately, Melber notes, these hopes proved illusory.

Conflicts arising from this arrangement led to violence and German “pacification” strategies. By 1889, direct German colonial rule was established. Land expropriation and forced labor became hallmarks of governance, including the enlistment of a mercenary unit from Dahomey in 1891 to carry out particularly brutal acts and atrocities. Yet, military governance continued until the end of German control across half the territory.

Melber highlights many Africans who showed remarkable courage in resisting the invading Europeans.

He features 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 stated 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 imprisoned 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 benefits from the seeds of terror they had sowed.” A collaborative British and French invasion from September 1914 to January 1916 effectively ended the violent German presence, but it did not favor the local inhabitants.

“Cameroon was divided and shared 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 primarily driven by German citizen Carl Peters, who, according to Melber, was motivated by “an imperialist nationalism intertwined with social Darwinism.” The German East Africa Company was established, and the Berlin Conference defined German zones of influence that, by 1886, included present-day Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi. German East Africa ultimately 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” – responded to resistance with extreme brutality during a united Swahili and Arab uprising.

Colonists intended to create a plantation economy centered around sisal, coffee, rubber, and cotton, but were met with labor shortages due to harsh and unhealthy conditions. Hermann Wissmann was appointed commissioner for East Africa, arriving in Zanzibar in March 1889 and resorting to massacres against rebels, employing mercenaries from Sudan, Somalia, and Zulu backgrounds.

By the mid-1890s, rebellion had become widespread, leading to the cruel suppression 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 violent legacies present in Namibia, Cameroon, East Africa, and beyond, Melber argues that Germany must “walk the walk” of reconciliation. “This requires acknowledging the atrocities committed in the name of German ‘civilization’ abroad and addressing these historical injustices with the same gravity as the later Nazi mass exterminations carried out domestically.”

He explores issues of reparations, the restitution of artifacts, and current narratives concerning Germany’s colonial past. Most importantly, he emphasizes that the government must foster public awareness and forward-thinking education to move 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