{"id":157391,"date":"2025-12-23T14:07:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T13:07:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/?post_type=event&p=157391"},"modified":"2026-01-16T17:33:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T16:33:30","slug":"germanys-repressed-colonial-past","status":"publish","type":"event","link":"https:\/\/www.humboldtforum.org\/en\/programm\/termin\/discourse\/germanys-repressed-colonial-past-157391\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany’s repressed colonial past"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In November 2024, the Humboldt Forum opened the exhibition \u2018Histories of Tanzania<\/a>\u2019, developed in close collaboration with the National Museum of Tanzania and communities from Tanzania. The consequences of oppression, exploitation and violence continue to have an impact today. During colonialism, thousands of cultural belongings were brought to Germany. The Ethnological Museum in Berlin houses more than 10,000 \u201cobjects\u201d from what is now Tanzania. The exhibition uses various narratives, perspectives and cultural belongings to show the centuries-long interconnections of present-day Tanzania. A special focus is placed on the period of colonial oppression through wars and exploitation.<\/p>\n

Previously, Federal President Steinmeier’s visit to the Maji Maji Museum in Songea in 2023 had raised awareness among a wider public of the boundless violence of German colonial rule. The forms of violence in the colonial context of East Africa (1885 to 1918) went beyond guerrilla tactics and scorched earth policies. They claimed hundreds of thousands of civilian victims.<\/p>\n

In \u2018Deutsch-Ostafrika\u2019 (German East Africa), global historian Tanja B\u00fchrer describes decisive battles throughout the colonial period, from the Battle of Rugaro in 1891 to the Maji Maji Wars of 1905-1908. She describes how African warring parties took the initiative to attack the foreign invaders and places them in the broader context of European expansion at the fin de si\u00e8cle. Her book \u2018Colonial Wars in East Africa 1885\u20131914\u2019 was published in November 2025 by Relcam Verlag.<\/p>\n

Following the event everyone is invited to a small reception, sponsored by the Zentrum f\u00fcr Milit\u00e4rgeschichte und Sozialwissenschaften der Bundeswehr and Reclam Verlag.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

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