To this end, the Federal Foreign Office supported the work of an international research team. Together, they considered the role of the Foreign Office, whose colonial directorate-general at the time was directly responsible for German colonial rule in Africa, Asia and Oceania between 1890 and 1907. In 1907, this became the Imperial Colonial Office. The investigation of Germany’s colonial policy and the consequences for foreign policy over the following decades has now been published in the anthology “Das Auswärtige Amt und die Kolonien. Geschichte, Erinnerung, Erbe” (The Foreign Office and the Colonies. History, Remembrance, Legacy).

The researchers state quite clearly that the Federal Foreign Office as an institution shares responsibility for violence and crime in the German colonies.

Addressing the past through dialogue

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To overcome colonial continuities it is important to talk to and to listen to one another, not least in order to acquire non-eurocentric perspectives. This dialogue must be redefined in each context, and the degree of space and time required for it will vary, for colonial experiences, too, differ between the various societies and population groups.

Dialogue with countries which were affected by German colonial activity is in many cases only in its early stages. These processes can only be shaped jointly. They involve both affected civil societies and representatives from the diaspora and academia as well as state partners.

An honest and open appraisal of the past includes naming and recognising injustices that have been committed. During his visit to Tanzania in November 2023, Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier asked for forgiveness for German colonial crimes in former German East Africa. Minister of State Katja Keul reiterated this plea for forgiveness during her trip to Tanzania in March 2024 for a memorial ceremony in Moshi. She also referred to the executions of King Rudolf Douala Manga Bell and Adolf Ngoso Din in the former German colony of Cameroon as colonial injustice during a speech in Douala in November 2022. The Joint Declaration initialled in 2021 is an important element along the path towards reconciliation with Namibia following the atrocities committed in what was then German South West Africa, which culminated in the genocide against the Herero and Nama peoples. In his speech on the occasion of the state funeral for former Namibian President Hage Geingob in February 2024, Federal President Steinmeier emphasised that Germany remains committed to addressing the history of these crimes.

Numerous stakeholders at federal, Land and municipal level are working to address Germany’s colonial past.

The Federal Foreign Office is active in the following areas:

• The Federal Foreign Office supports the return of human remains and cultural objects from colonial contexts. A prominent example is the return of the Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. The actual handing over is generally performed by Länder and municipalities, as the authorities responsible for the collections. The German Contact Point for Collections from Colonial Contexts is the first point of contact for all questions concerning collections from colonial contexts in Germany.
• The Federal Foreign Office and the German missions in former colonial territories provide information on the history and legacy of the colonial period, promote exhibitions and cultural events and organise exchange programmes for culture professionals or civil society initiatives designed to raise awareness and jointly address the issue. In this way we promote cooperation and exchange between people.
• The Federal Foreign Office promotes independent academic research on confronting Germany’s colonial past. Since 2022, the German Colonial Rule - Scholarship Programme for Cooperative Research, funded by the Federal Foreign Office and coordinated by the German Academic Exchange Service, has been making an important contribution to establishing research partnerships and critically addressing Germany’s colonial past. In this programme, young academics from Burundi, Cameroon, Namibia, Rwanda, Tanzania and the Philippines conduct research into the role of the Foreign Office and other German ministries during the German colonial period. The cooperative scholarship programme specifically promotes perspectives on the colonial past from the societies of former colonies.
• The colonial past is also the subject of cultural preservation projects, which make the issue accessible to the public in the respective countries and in Germany.
• As part of a self-critical appraisal of the then-Foreign Office’s own role, the Federal Foreign Office also intends to expand the issue of Germany’s colonial past in its initial and further training for diplomats.

Further information

• The Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media is responsible for promoting provenance research and digitisation of collections from colonial contexts and for creating a place of learning and remembrance.
• Link to the Foreign Minister’s speech at the book presentation
• Speech by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on the occasion of the return of the Benin Bronzes
• Speech by Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Palau on climate and security
• Speech by Minister of State Katja Keul on the occasion of the memorial ceremony in Moshi, Tanzania
• Speech by Minister of State Katja Keul on the occasion of a wreath-laying ceremony at the site of the execution of Rudolf Manga Bell in Cameroon
• Speech by Minister of State Katja Keul at the conference “New Perspectives on German Colonial Rule - A Scholarship Programme for Cooperative Research”
• Federal President Steinmeier in Tanzania
• Speech by Federal President Steinmeier on the occasion of the state funeral for President Hage G. Geingob on 24 February 2024