The Long Shadow of German Colonialism - Amnesia, Denialism and Revisionism
Henning Melber, Hurst, £30
 

HENNING MELBER moved to Namibia (former South West Africa) with his family of German immigrants, in 1967. He joined the South West Africa Peoples’ Organisation in 1974 remaining an anti-colonialism activist ever since.

Germany’s colonial period was short compared to those of its European neighbours, lasting from 1884 until 1914. Following defeat in WWI, Germany’s African colonies, South West Africa (Namibia), Cameroon, Togoland (Togolese Republic and Ghana), German East Africa (Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi) and those in the Pacific, the Mariana, Marshall and Caroline Islands were distributed among the victor nations.

German companies continued to operate in these territories, often coming into conflict with those of the victors.

Unlike Britain, Germany did not establish settler colonies or install large military forces, yet it has a history of the most terrible atrocities and genocidal violence using mercenary troops recruited from among its colonies to put down resistance in others.

Melber records this violence and the process of Germany’s acquisition of colonies in considerable detail. He argues that German colonialism was not particularly successful and that substantial state funds were necessary to subsidise the activity of the major companies exploiting the people and resources of its colonies.

However, the impact of German colonialism was considerable. Vast national treasures were looted, large numbers of able-bodied workers were slaughtered with an immediate and long-lasting impact on those local economies, and the racism and search for new territories to occupy helped to prepare the ground for the Nazi “lebensraum” policies, along with its racism, which led ultimately to the Holocaust.

Addressing this, Henning suggests that by focusing on the Holocaust as something for which Germany has to apologise and make restitutions for, Germany has forgotten or denied its terrible crimes during its colonial period. Many historical writings still focus on the “civilising” influence of colonialism, an idea previously supported by such eminent philosophers as Immanuel Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and John Stuart Mill. As a result the only steps taken have been to suggest that some artifacts and the remains of victims should be returned to their former homes.

One particular claim of German colonialism was that it created apartheid.

In 1905 in South West Africa, laws were introduced to prohibit mixed marriages. In 1906 vast swathes of communal land were expropriated and their population confined to reserves.  Completing the apartheid picture, pass laws were introduced in 1907.  

Expansion of agriculture on land now owned by settlers, and the discovery of diamonds in 1908, prompted a significant inrush of German immigrants who tripled in number to around 15,000. For the first time there were signs of settler colonialism, but this was short-lived. British victory in 1915 led to them taking control. Very soon after administrative power was handed to South Africa which rapidly consolidated the settler-colonial structures.

Melber challenges the image of German colonialism in the Pacific which has long been cultivated as one of benign “colonialism lite.” Although many local chiefs were involved in collaboration with the German occupiers, agreements between Germany and the chiefs were regularly broken. When the chiefs objected they were brutally removed or killed.

While Germany competed, sometimes militarily, with other European colonial powers for territories and trade, it also collaborated with them against a perceived greater threat. Hence in 1900, following what is known as the “boxer rebellion” in Beijing, Germany joined with Austria-Hungary, France, Britain, Italy, Japan, Russia and the US in putting it down.

In defiance of the 1899 Hague Convention, to which Germany was a signatory, Emperor Wilhelm II demanded that no Chinese prisoners should be taken and no quarter given.

Melber also explores the history of post-war Germany which he sees as a period of amnesia when colonial atrocities were forgotten, and a romantic idea of life in the colonies, particularly in Africa, was promoted in literature. While the German Democratic Republic played a considerable role in assisting the remaining African colonies to fight for their independence, in the Federal Republic non-state players waged an uphill battle to get any recognition of the role of German colonialism in the face of the selective focus on the Holocaust.

The book visits a number of contemporary debates around recognition and reparations. Before revisiting Namibia/German relations he examines the revisionist view of German colonial history, and particularly that put forward by the neofascist Alternative fur Deutschland. This argues that German colonialism liberated Africa and that any atrocities “if they happened” were not a matter of German or colonial policy but the responsibility of individual military leaders.

The book ends by exploring the ongoing battle for reparations and argues that this debate is tainted by the outstanding dominance of colonial language and thinking. He suggests that this should be balanced by the view that “Europe’s colonial and imperial expansion took place at a price — which was paid by others.”

It is impossible to do justice to such a book in a brief review. What can be said is that it contributes significantly to a growing number of books exposing the reality of colonialism and the racism that arose from it, that continues to contaminate our lives today. In examining the often overlooked area of German colonialism, as far as is possible through the eyes of its victims, it adds new dimensions to the contemporary debate regarding reparations supporting which Melber quotes the late Jewish historian Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, who asked: “Is it possible that the antonym of ‘forgetting’ is not remembering but ‘justice’?” 

I’m sure it is.