Deutsche Fassung: https://weltneuvermessung.wordpress.com/2025/04/13/neue-bundesregierung-will-dekoloniale-aufarbeitung-intensivieren/
The (black-red) coalition agreement of Conservatives (CDU/CSU) and Social Democrats (SPD) in Germany contains remarkably positive statements on dealing with the colonial legacy. Contrary to the fears of many, the new Federal Government does not want to bury the reappraisal of Germany’s colonial history, but on the contrary wants to strengthen it. However, it is not (non-binding) declarations of intent that are decisive for German policy, but concrete steps towards implementation in the election period that has just begun.
It is now crucial for civil society to critically accompany the government’s work over the next few years. Efforts from former German colonial territories will also be an important factor for decolonial dynamics in our country. Civil society groups and state commissions in these countries are increasingly calling for credible measures to recognize historical guilt, repatriate their ancestral remains and restitute cultural belongings.
Text of the coalition agreement
The coalition agreement takes up some of the demands that civil society has been making of politicians for some time. For example, a petition on the occasion of the coalition negotiations formulated a wide range of concrete recommendations for coming to terms with the colonial past. The black-red coalition agreement
defines ambitious goals in this direction in the „Culture and Media“ chapter:
„We will intensify our efforts to come to terms with colonialism. This includes transnational research into objects and the restitution of cultural assets in dialogue with the countries of origin. Particular attention will be paid to a dignified place of remembrance and the return of human remains.“
This means that the text agreed by the CDU/CSU and SPD in Working Group 14 (Culture and Media) from the coalition negotiations has made it into the final agreement unchanged.
No reference for foreign policy
On the other hand, the SPD’s desired foreign policy reference to colonialism, which was highlighted as controversial in Working Group 12’s paper (Defense, Foreign Affairs, Development, Human Rights), did not find a place in the final text. The passage not included in the coalition agreement reads:
„Reconciliation with Namibia remains an indispensable task for us that arises from our historical and moral responsibility. We will quickly conclude the reconciliation agreement with Namibia. This will also be the prelude to a joint process of coming to terms with the inexcusable crimes of the German colonial rulers in the world.“
Insiders report that the SPD withdrew this wording after it became clear that the CDU/CSU would take over the Federal Foreign Office (AA).
Responsibility for cultural and foreign policy
The sole allocation of (de)colonial remembrance work to the Commissioner for Culture and Media (BKM) in the coalition agreement, without the inclusion of foreign policy, does not necessarily mean that the division of labour between the BKM and AA agreed at the end of the previous government has been abolished.
Their joint „Concept on the Division of Responsibilities for the Restitution of Cultural Property and Human Remains“, which was drawn up at the request of the Bundestag Budget Committee, was submitted to this committee by the Ministry of Finance in September 2024. In it, the AA is assigned a central role in dealing with colonial history at federal level. For example, the AA budget will be used to fund the establishment of a „Liaison Office for Human Remains“ by the Contact Point for Collections from Colonial Contexts.
It is striking that the previous government’s „Concept for the Division of Responsibilities“ does not provide for an explicit role for the BKM. This is a departure from the previous joint participation practice of the BKM and AA, which was evident, for example, in the BKM’s involvement in the restitution of Benin Bronzes in 2022. Indirectly, however, BKM remains involved in shaping German restitution policy in the concept of the previous government, for example through its participation in the Federal-Länder Working Group on Colonial Contexts
and via the aforementioned Contact Point.
Is the restitution fund coming?
It remains to be seen whether the new federal government will take over the regulation of colonial history responsibilities from its predecessor or decide on a different division of labour between the BKM and the AA. It is noticeable that the concept of the old government makes no reference to the BKM budget line „Global South, coming to terms with colonialism“. The previous government thus decided against implementing the 2024 federal budget, which includes the establishment of a restitution fund from the BKM budget. At the time, the Bundestag had legally stipulated that a total of 2.4 million euros would be made available over four years (600,000 per year), starting in 2024, for the restitution of colonially appropriated cultural belongings via a restitution fund.
The exciting question now is whether the black-red government will set up such a fund. The necessary funds would be available at the BKM. The (unapproved) draft budget of the outgoing coalition government for 2025 has set aside two million euros in the corresponding budget item. The high amount of 17.197 million euros for „unused self-managed funds“ in this item (as at 31.12.2023) is striking. This is a kind of „piggy bank“ that BKM could also use for the restitution of cultural belongings.
Repatriation of ancestors
In addition to setting up a restitution fund for cultural belongings, the new Federal Government should permanently secure the institutional and financial framework for the repatriation of ancestral remains. The aforementioned establishment of a Liaison Office for societies of origin with funds from the Federal Foreign Office is an important first step in this direction. A survey conducted by the Contact Point in 2022 identified around 17,000 ancestral remains from colonial contexts in German institutions.
The concept that the Contact Point is currently developing will define the future tasks of the Liaison Office and take into account the requests of descendants – for example, traditional rituals for re-humanization. According to the concept of the previous government, funding for repatriation is to be provided by the Federal Foreign Office if the respective sponsors of the affected institutions on the German side are unable to (fully) cover the costs. However, no provisions have yet been made in the Federal Foreign Office budget for the permanent operation of the Laison Office.
Central access for societies of origin
In addition to clarifying responsibility for and funding the repatriation of ancestral remains and cultural belongings, the new Federal Government also has important tasks ahead of it to upgrade national restitution policy. The creation of an efficient central office that provides them with access to Germany’s complicated federal system is of central importance for communities of origin and governments of the formerly colonized territories.
The Contact Point for Collections from Colonial Contexts could fulfil this task if it is strengthened in terms of personnel and funding. In addition to the aforementioned Liaison Office for Human Remains, which is financed by the AA, the BKM-financed restitution fund could be established here. In this way, the communities of origin and their governments would have a central administrative addressee for their restitution concerns. The decisive advantage of the Contact Point is that it is supported by all three federal levels – Federal Government, federal states and local authorities.
Challenges ahead
The new government must make Germany’s hitherto deficient restitution policy on colonial contexts fit for future demands from the former colonies. On the one hand, this involves finalizing and implementing the controversial agreement with Namibia. On the other hand, the governments of the other German colonies in Africa are preparing for comprehensive talks with Germany on coming to terms with our intertwined history. Tanzania, Cameroon, Togo and Ghana (whose east was part of German Togoland) have set up state restitution committees whose concerns the new Federal Government must take seriously.
The Federal Government needs a comprehensive strategy on how it intends to deal with the expected demands and must provide the necessary personnel capacities in the Federal Foreign Office over a longer period of time. It must be avoided that negotiations with other countries are as time-consuming and conflict-laden as in the case of Namibia.
A credible reappraisal of Germany’s colonial history could put relations with these countries on a new footing and meet with approval throughout Africa. The „Atlas of Absence“
compiled by a German-Cameroonian research team is an example of the enormous legacy of the colonial history, which manifests itself on a material level through more than 40,000 cultural belongings from Cameroon in numerous German institutions.
The role of civil society
Both the Federal Government and the governments of the former colonial territories cannot tackle the complex challenges of coming to terms with colonial history alone. The contributions of civil society, academia, religious communities, art and culture are therefore crucial success factors. Both in the societies of origin and in Germany, there is growing interest in coming to terms with the intertwined history.
For example, the dissemination of knowledge about Cameroon’s cultural heritage in Germany from the aforementioned „Atlas“ has met with a great response in the West African country. In Tanzania, communities and academics are increasingly interested in sites associated with German colonial violence, such as the Majimaji War.
The new German government should swiftly implement the „dignified place of remembrance“ listed in the coalition agreement as a national institution and seek cooperation with the numerous local memorial sites in this country as well as corresponding spaces of memory in the former colonial territories.
In doing so, it would be well advised to support the diverse approaches of civil society remembrance work in Germany and the former colonies and make them fruitful for the implementation of its ambitious agenda in the coalition agreement.
German version of this text: https://weltneuvermessung.wordpress.com/2025/04/13/neue-bundesregierung-will-dekoloniale-aufarbeitung-intensivieren/