The Long Shadow of German Colonialism: Amnesia, Denialism and Revisionism

The German Kaiserreich's fourth-largest overseas colonial empire from 1884 to 1914 is little known in Germany and has only recently become a topic of wider public interest. Henning Melber presents an overview of German colonial rule and analyses its legacy, debates, and everyday experiences of Afro-Germans, restitution of colonial loot, and the history of colonialism's impact on institutions like the Humboldt Forum.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 416 pages
Publication date: 04 July 2024
Publisher: C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd

The German Kaiserreich, the fourth-largest overseas colonial empire from 1884 to 1914, is a topic that remains largely unknown in Germany and is rarely discussed in school textbooks. While debates about the impact of empire on former colonies and colonizing societies are common in France and Britain, German imperialism has only recently become a topic of wider public interest. In 2015, the German government belatedly acknowledged that the extermination policies carried out over 1904-8 in the settler colony of German South West Africa (now Namibia) qualify as genocide. However, the recent invigoration of debate on Germany's colonial past has been hindered by continued amnesia, denialism, and a populist right endorsing colonial revisionism. A campaign against postcolonial studies has sought to denounce and ostracize any serious engagement with the crimes of the imperial age. Henning Melber presents an overview of German colonial rule and analyzes how its legacy has affected and been debated in German society, politics, and the media. He also discusses the quotidian experiences of Afro-Germans, the restitution of colonial loot, and how the history of colonialism affects important institutions such as the Humboldt Forum.

Weight: 402g
Dimension: 141 x 217 x 31 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781805260455