Thomas Fues, December 26, 2024
Balance sheet of old government
Germany’s now terminated government (so called „traffic light coalition“) has only achieved limited success in dealing with Germany’s colonial history. The Green-led ministerial institutions primarily responsible for this, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media (BKM), Claudia Roth, and the Federal Foreign Office (AA) under the leadership of Minister Annalena Baerbock, have only been able to partially meet the ambitious goals of the coalition agreement.
For example, BKM did not provide the concept for a „colonial learning and remembrance site“ listed there. BKM and AA did not implement the restitution fund for colonially appropriated cultural assets approved by the Bundestag’s budget committee. One bright spot, however, is the liaison office for ancestral remains at the Contact Point for Collections from Colonial Contexts, which was commissioned by the Foreign Office.
Election programs
The election manifestos of the parties for the upcoming national elections (expected for 23 February 2025) contain little concrete information on the subject of colonialism. The executive boards of the conservative union (CDU/CSU) and the liberal FDP have already been able to finally adopt the respective documents, while the other parties still have to wait for decisions at their party conferences in January.
Joint paper of the Union (CDU/CSU)
Under the heading „Perpetuating and expanding the culture of remembrance“, the conservative Union’s program contains the following statement:
„For us, remembering the two totalitarian regimes in Germany is a task for the present and the future. At the same time, we are expanding the approach to remembrance to include the history of colonialism.“
In view of the controversial discussion about the reorientation of German memory policy, this formulation represents a remarkably clear position in favor of dealing with colonial history, even if the implementation remains unclear. The statement is particularly important because, according to current polls, the Union has a good chance of leading the new federal government.
Position of SPD
The Social Democratic Party (SPD), which currently seems to have little chance of leading the new federal government, advocates a critical reappraisal of colonialism in historical remembrance. It wants to overcome the persisting coloniality of German foreign policy and, in particular, to promote reconciliation with Namibia. The other former German colonies are not mentioned by name.
„The further investigation into the crimes of … colonialism must also continue… We want to overcome colonial continuities and meet each other in partnership on equal terms. Reconciliation with Namibia remains an indispensable task for us, which arises from our historical and moral responsibility.“
Position of the Green Party
The Greens’ election manifesto becomes more concrete with reference to the past government’s work:
„In the federal government, we have pushed forward the process of coming to terms with Germany’s colonial past in dialogue with the countries concerned and want to bring this into society through a learning and remembrance center and with the help of local initiatives.“
While the party addresses the domestic dimension of remembrance work here, it also makes colonial references in foreign policy:
„We stand by our historical responsibility for the poorest countries… Our approach to this is feminist and decolonial… Our historical responsibility for the crimes of Nazi rule and the colonial past gives us a special obligation to protect international law.“
Position of AfD
The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) rejects any critical approach to colonialism. It criticizes the corresponding transformation of public spaces. Decolonization is condemned as ideological attack on German culture. The party gets specific in its rejection of „blanket restitution“ for cultural assets acquired through colonialism.
„We oppose the increasingly aggressive attempts at an ideologically influenced, moralizing reinterpretation of history, which is based on the demolition of monuments and the renaming of streets. The debate about an allegedly necessary ‚decolonization‘ of our culture, which is accompanied by a demonization of the ‚white man‘, calls into question the self-image of our cultural identity as a whole… The AfD also opposes a blanket return of collection items from colonial contexts.“
Positions of liberal party (FDP) and
„Die Linke“
The FDP’s election manifesto avoids any reference to the colonial issue altogether. The left party’s manifesto mentions „centuries of colonial exploitation“ and „green colonialism,“ but fails to make any specific statement about dealing with colonial history.
Challenges for new government
The process of coming to terms with the colonial past in Germany is still in its early stages. An important first step is to clarify the responsibilities between the Federal Foreign Office (AA) and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media (BKM). A recent proposal by the two houses to the Bundestag on this subject could no longer be formally adopted due to the collapse of the coalition government. The agreement between the two ministerial authorities stipulates that BKM will limit itself exclusively to domestic policy measures, while the Federal Foreign Office will have comprehensive responsibility for relations with succcesor states of the former colonies.
Restitution governance in sight?
The fundamental question is whether the new federal government is prepared to create a coherent institutional framework for dealing with colonial history, which could be qualified as restitution governance. Other European countries are already further ahead in this respect: for example, the Netherlands and Switzerland , which have created advisory restitution committees and central ministerial contact points.
Systemic innovation
The Federal Government could also consider a systemic innovation that brings together all the institutions currently active at the federal level for the reappraisal of colonial history and secures their long-term funding: Contact Point for Collection from Colonial Contexts, colonial provenance research under the umbrella of the German Lost Art Foundation, Agency for International Museum Cooperation, MuseumsLab, German Digital Library and others.
Civil society participation
In dealing with colonial legacies, the new federal government must also decide how it wants to include voices from civil society, culture, science and professional associations from Germany and the countries of origin. A wide range of experts have, for example, offered their support in the repatriation of ancestral remains.
Stagnation follows Benin Bronzes
When it comes to the return of colonial loot, the past government’s record is contradictory. The spectacular action by federal and state governments as well as German museums to return the Benin Bronzes in 2022 stands in stark contrast to the stagnation in all other cases of colonial loot, as this blog’s German Colonial Restitution Monitor shows. The truth is also that some governments of the countries of origin, such as Tanzania, Cameroon and Ghana, have not yet approached the federal government with requests for return. While these states have set up national restitution commissions, they are still working on their diplomatic strategies towards the former colonial power.
Where is the restitution fund?
As part of the federal budget for 2024, the Parliament’s Budget Committee approved a restitution fund for cultural assets from colonial contexts. The BKM budget includes 600,000 euros in cash for 2024 and 600,000 euros per year in the period 2025-27 as so-called commitment authorizations. In total, this amounts to 2.4 million euros over four years, which are intended to support the communities of origin in researching and returning their cultural assets. It remains to be seen whether BKM has by now set up a funding line to manage the public resources and how the money has been allocated so far.
Second location of Tanzania exhibition
There is an acute funding need for the agreed second presentation of the Tanzania Exhibition, now shown at the Humboldt Forum until the end of 2025. After that, it will travel to Tanzania and be exhibited at the National Museum of Tanzania, which is jointly responsible for the project. German funding for the travel is completely unclear, but could come from the BKM budget, as it also involves the restitution of cultural assets in the Ethnological Museum Berlin.
Ancestral remains liaison office
The old government has taken an important step forward in dealing with ancestral remains from colonial contexts. The Federal Foreign Office has transferred responsibility for this task to the „Contact Point for Collections from Colonial Contexts“, which is run jointly with the federal states and municipal associations. The Contact Point is currently developing the concept for a central liaison office that will support communities of origin in their search for their ancestors.
Legal framework for human remains
The recent travel report by Bernhard Heeb (curator at the Museum of Prehistory and Early History of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation) about encounters with communities of origin in Togo informs about the spiritual significance of the ancestors stolen by Germans. The new federal government should create a legal framework for human remains, as has already been done in France, in order to speed up repatriation and prevent any trade.
Site of Learning and Remembrance on Colonialism
The debate about colonialism and its effects in the present requires a national memory institution that builds close network relationships with local initiatives in Germany and with corresponding spaces of memory in former colonies. Since the Green Party has explicitly included this project in their election manifesto, it is to be hoped that they would push ahead with its implementation should they participate in the new government. The former site of the Ethnological Museum on Berlin’s Stresemanstrasse, which is now used as a parking lot, is a suitable spot for the new institution. The colonial memorial site could share the new building to be constructed there with the planned „Filmhaus Berlin“.
Development Ministry as decolonial actor
A new dynamic for German policy on coming to terms with the past could arise from the fact that the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has discovered the topic as a core task. If it is possible to integrate national and decentralized remembrance work in successor states of former colonies into the BMZ’s development policy programs, considerable financial resources could be mobilized.
What next?
Regardless of which parties form the government after the election on February 23, 2025, the expansion of colonial reappraisal in federal politics requires considerable efforts. Decisive factors for progress in this direction are the commitment and assertiveness of German civil society in cooperation with actors in the countries of origin. It can be assumed that governments from former colonial territories will soon turn to the federal government and demand effective steps for restitution and compensation for colonial injustice.
Third „Pillar”: strategic project
A strategic civil society project for the next legislative period is the expansion of German remembrance policy to include a third pillar of state mass crimes, namely colonialism, alongside with the remembrance of the National Socialist reign of terror and the East German communist dictatorship. There is broad support for this approach from existing memorial sites. And now we have the identical statement of the conservative Union for the federal election campaign (see above).