Bundeswehr institute documents widespread military violence in German colonies
Thomas Fues, 3 April 2026
Just as the narrative of the ‘Clean Wehrmacht’ during the Second World War distorted the historical facts, some people today propagate the myth of the ‘Clean Schutztruppe’. It is thanks to the Bundeswehr Centre for Military History and Social Sciences (ZMSBw) that this legend is now being systematically deconstructed. In an interview (in German) with the podcast “Decolonial Memories”, ZMSBw researchers Dr Christian Stachelbeck and Dr Pierre Köckert discuss their project “The German Military in Colonial Service 1880–1918 – A Continuum of Violence”. They examine the state of permanent use of force in the exercise of state authority by colonial forces, police, navy, civilians and auxiliary troops. An English transcript of the interview is included below.
In a conversation with the podcast Decolonial Memories, researchers from the Centre for Military History and Social Sciences of the Bundeswehr discuss their project German Military in Colonial Operations 1880 to 1918 – A Continuum of Violence. The four-year project, which runs until 2028, focuses on investigating all forms of state violence in the German colonies.
Permanent State of Violence
Project leader Dr Christian Stachelbeck describes the project’s approach as follows:
“We consider military violence not only in the context of so-called ‘large-scale colonial wars’ or military operations, but military violence in all its facets, ranging from everyday coercive practices to major operations and colonial wars. In between, there is a wide spectrum ranging from latent and structural violence to physical violence – in short, violence in all its possible forms.”
700 to 1,000 operations
Project researcher Dr Pierre Köckert summarises the current state of research as follows:
“During the conceptual phase, we realised that only the major colonial wars had been considered so far. These include the Maji Maji War, the war against the Herero and Nama in German South-West Africa, and the ‘Boxer Rebellion’ in China. However, whilst developing the concept, we realised that a list of various military operations could be compiled using battle medals and battle bars. This yields roughly 300 identifiable events. Even a preliminary survey of the sources suggests that this is far from the full number. We can assume that we will be able to record an estimated – though at present it is not yet possible to say exactly – 700 to 1,000 different military operations.“
Police, navy, civilians, auxiliary troops
The research group uses the term Einsatz as a central analytical category, defined as the deployment and use of military personnel to fulfil state or sovereign mandates. In addition to the Schutztruppe, this encompasses the police and the navy, civilians involved in military action, and the non-German auxiliary troops, who constitute the bulk of the perpetrators of violence in all African colonies except German South-West Africa.
Podcast Decolonial Memories
Episode 18 (German) of the Decolonial Memories podcast with the Bundeswehr Centre for Military History and Social Sciences, is freely available on the usual platforms, for example here:
English transcript
The written transcript of the conversation in English (PDF file) is available here:
Workshops
The core activity of the research project is a series of three workshops. The kick-off event in October 2025 served to establish the substantive and methodological foundations. The second workshop in May 2026 will address the topic of Military Operational Practice in the Colonial Sphere. The project will conclude with the conference From Colonial Warfare to Postcolonial Memory – Transformation and Interpretation of Colonial Military Violence in October 2026. The research group invites proposals for papers for this event – particularly from the former German colonies – via email to: PierreKoeckert@bundeswehr.org.
Publications
Texts on the German military in the colonies can be found in the Bundeswehr Centre’s two publications: the academically oriented Militärgeschichtliche Zeitschrift and Militärgeschichte. Zeitschrift für historische Bildung, which is aimed at a wider audience. Researchers from the Centre contribute to the Working Group on Military History, which also addresses colonial topics in its journal Militär und Gesellschaft.
Militärgeschichte
The freely accessible Issue 3/2024 of the journal Militärgeschichte, for example, contains the following articles with a colonial focus:
– Die Schlacht am Waterberg: Die deutsche Kolonialpolitik in Südwestafrika (The Battle of Waterberg: German Colonial Policy in South-West Africa) by Susanne Kuß,
– Weiße Matrosen im schmutzigen Krieg: Die Kaiserliche Marine im Kolonialkrieg (White Sailors in a Dirty War: The Imperial Navy in the Colonial War) by Christian Jentzsch.
Militärgeschichtliche Zeitschrift
Behind a paywall is the conference report by Pierre Köckert on the 2025 inaugural event of the research network Military, War and Gender/Diversity, under the theme Gender and Violence in Colonial Wars, Colonial Rule and Anti-colonial Liberation Struggles.
Colonial Wars in East Africa
An important commissioned study by the Centre is the publication by Tanja Bührer Kolonialkriege in Ostafrika 1885-1914 (Colonial Wars in East Africa 1885–1914) for the book series Kriege der Moderne (Wars of Modernity). At a public event jointly organised by the Centre and the Humboldt Forum Foundation, the author presented her work on 28 January 2026 in Berlin.
Podcasts
To disseminate its findings, the project team also uses podcasts, of which two have been released so far. In the first episode, Matthias Häussler discusses the topic Der Vernichtungskrieg in Deutsch-Südwestafrika (The War of Extermination in German South-West Africa) in conversation with Christian Stachelbeck and Frank Reichherzer. In the second episode, Pierre Köckert and Christian Senne discuss the topic Entstehung, Auftrag und Praxis der kaiserlichen Schutztruppe (The Origins, Mission and Practice of the Schutztruppe), moderated by Christian Stachelbeck.