Nobody should forget what happened back then

During his visit to Tanzania, German President Steinmeier apologized for the acts of violence committed by German colonial rulers. The goal of the German government is to jointly address the era of exploitation and violence.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier apologized for the acts of violence committed by German colonial rulers during his visit to Tanzania. “I bow to the victims of German colonial rule,” Steinmeier said during an appearance in the Tanzanian city of Songea. “As the German President, I would like to apologize for what Germans have done to your ancestors here.”

Steinmeier further expressed his “shame” regarding the actions of the colonial rulers in the former German East Africa colony. The Germans governed the colony “with cruel severity.” Addressing the relatives of the victims, he said, “I want to assure you that we Germans will search for answers together with you to the open questions that trouble you.”

German colonial rulers killed hundreds of thousands

Songea witnessed one of the bloodiest chapters in German colonial history. With great brutality, the colonial rulers suppressed an uprising against their rule in German East Africa between 1905 and 1907. The main trigger for the Maji-Maji Uprising was the high taxes imposed by Governor Gustav Adolf Graf von Götzen at the time, aimed at countering the financial burden of the German colonization of East Africa, which began in 1885.

With the help of African soldiers, known as Askaris, Governor von Götzen quickly crushed the rebellion. The insurgents were mercilessly punished. The people suffered from displacement, hunger, and mass death.

Historians estimate that the number of deaths during the Maji-Maji Uprising reached up to 300,000. Most of them died as a result of the systematic destruction of fields and villages by German colonial troops.

Steinmeier supports the examination of the past

In Songea, Steinmeier also visited the Maji-Maji War Memorial Museum, which was symbolically erected at the site where the Germans once publicly executed 67 rebels. Following the visit to the museum, he stated that he wanted to convey a “message.” Germany is ready for a joint examination of the past. So far, Germany has not officially recognized the murders of the rebels as war crimes.

“No one should forget what happened back then,” said Steinmeier. His great hope is that the collective examination of the past will also involve young people: “Students, researchers, museum professionals.”

Furthermore, Steinmeier promised that the skulls of killed resistance fighters would be returned. The mortal remains were taken by the colonial rulers as trophies. The descendants of the victims have long been demanding their return. Many bones from East Africa are stored in museums and anthropological collections in Germany. “Hundreds, maybe thousands of skulls,” said the German President. “We will do what is in our power.”