The German Colonial Empire: How Does Germany Deal With Its Colonial History? | Meet the Germans
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- Опубликовано: 11 окт 2024
- In a country that is often praised for its willingness to face up to the past, why do we hear so little about Germany's colonial history? Rachel takes a look at the German colonial empire - where were the German colonies, what happened there and what consequences can we still see today?
From the Herero and Nama genocide to the debate around looted artifacts in German museums and galleries - there is a lot to unpack in this episode of Meet the Germans.
Rachel moved from the UK to Germany in 2016. As a relative newcomer she casts a fresh eye over German clichés, traditions and history for the Meet the Germans series. Check out the full playlist here: bit.ly/MtG_You...
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Did you know much about this colonial chapter in Germany history? How well do you think Germany is dealing with it now?
Why should Germany of today pay for anything centuries ago?? They have lost their identities with too many foreigners today!! Should Turkey pay for its riches for centuries of OTTOMAN colonial empire?? Are you a German state tv channel Or Namibian one??
The winner colonised while the loser cries!
Very badly
I know something about it, because i'm a history student and had several Seminare about it at university. But the normal population doesn't know that much about this part of our history.
In my eyes, we aren't dealing well with the situation. We need(ed) much to long to just recognize a genocide as a genocide (and we haven't talked about what was going on in the maji maji war in Deutsch-Ostafrika!).
The best way would probably be to create some kind of fund as part of a non profit NGO that deals with reparations and compensations in theese areas and isn't consisting of politicians (who want to keep the money together) but out of political scientists, sociologues and historians and can talk to representatives of the tribes we commited crimes against directly.
This fund could be payed for by the taxpayer but also by some kind of special 'colonialism tax' on museum tickets in exhibitions with relevant exhibits. If you want to see it - and even if it was back then gifted or purchased rightfully - you have to pay one or two extra euro for the fund. This would probably also widen the knowledge in the population about our colonial history.
@@wookie2222 So you want to take the money of the tax-payer but do not want the representatives of the tax-payers to decide on it? That sounds rather undemocratic.
I am also not a big fan of giving money to people whose ancestors suffered some injustice more than 100 years ago. If we go down that line, Italy and France will have to pay compensations for the Roman Empire and France will have to pay for Napoleon. Is that really the way to go? Or is that rather the way to never-ending discussions about who ownes whom still more? How long will those "reasonable" discussions about "historical injustices" remain peaceful and not permanently damage relations between states?
i know quite a bit about the colonial german history but only because of personal interest. it was only mentioned in passing during german history classes (way back in the eighties in west germany). and germany has severe problems dealing with it. but this is only understandable since this period of history happened 5 severe social ruptures ago in germany. the kaiserreich is as close to modern society as are the middle ages ...
It would be great if the British in particular were to deal with their colonial times at all, as the Germans have been doing for some time. So much for how Germany is dealing with its colonial times (whose colonies were "taken over" by mostly British, US and France).
Rachel, thanks for the film about the time of German colonialism. But please also include Oceania/China and Klein-Venedig (Venezuela) as well as the other African states and not just Namibia.
Definitely agree that UK needs to do way more in this regard too - I don’t remember learning anything at all about colonialism in school 😣
@@RachelStewart04
I do. I was taught about colonialism and the British empire throughout my education in the 90s. What still haunts me today is the transatlantic slave trade.
What do you want us to do exactly?
Speaking as someone who grew up and live in one of their independent colonies, they were fairly decent. They left us law, democracy, and a pretty good economic concept of exporting raw materials like palm oil, tin and rubber. Without the British, life would not be as good. And compared to other regimes like the French, they didn't really conduct mass killings or genocide, they ruled fairly lightly and allowed us the locals to create enterprises and own mines and plantations, it's fairly good.
@@MrBoliao98 thank you.
I'd argue alongside the gentleman in a suit and coat in the video, that modern Germany is "overshadowed" by the consequences of WW1 and WW2 and there are only little to no remnants of our colonial past in our collective memory or day to day walks of life. In stark contrast to France and the British Empire, the German Empire never had a big influx of people from those colonies who could've had an influence on Germany's culture or society, so those people in particular from Africa remained an "oddity", also the German Empire didn't exist long enough for the colonies to have any meaningful impact on Germany or the german people. My grandmother once showed me a postcard of an amusement park/zoo near Berlin where an african village including inhabitants was on constant display. When i asked her about it and if she didn't consider it odd for people to live in a "zoo" she laughed and said those people were paid actors. Obviously there was no way to prove that, but that was her explanation at the time.
Many of them actually were paid and "worked" as performers often in an exaggerated way to impress the visitors of the exhibition who most often never were outside of Europe or even Germany.
This is fantastic. Here, in Australia, we have still dealing with the ongoing effects of British colonialism. Calls for 'truth telling' are still often ignored. Great to see a news channel speaking so plain and clearly about messy histories.
We're happy you enjoyed the video!
ongoing effects are notably prosperity civilization and culture.
Large parts of Indonesia are currently dealing with the problems of current colonisation. There were other options.
British colonialism? You're completing ignoring Australian colonialism. Australia's WW1 mandates and relationship with Pacific islands make it a colonizer in it's own right. Even today, this is still the case with Australia stealing East Timor's oil and the opening of detention centres for illegal immigrants on Pacific islands.
Aussies also didn't done well to aboriginal Australians
My friend Jan comes from Namibia and he taught me a lot about the German legacy there. Quite an amazing country.
The Germans in Namibia are called Südwesterdeutsche or Südwester ("South-western-Germans" or "Southwesterns").
These little videos are so easy to follow and sweet. Thank you for your amazing content!
Glad you like them!
I wouldn't call this one sweet but yeah
@@fntatn Yeah, bit of an odd description for a video about genocide🤔
@@dweuromaxx How does Germany deal with its colonial genocidal history? Repeats it every half a century.
Considering how Spain, France and specially the UK treat their colonial past, Germany is doing all right.
How does Turkey and the arabs deal with their past today with their caliphates??
@easy keyboard
They killed lots of people to conquer lands, etc. They have commitedcrimes, too. But enslaving an entire nations and serial genocides are what europeans did. They got rich robbing and enslaving Africa. And they are giving nothing back but lectures about human rights.
We can see how the UK does it right now, with the 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, the international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that is currently taking place in Birmingham, England, from 28 July to 8 August 2022. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exception of 1942 and 1946, have successively run every four years since
The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 56 independent and equal countries. It is home to 2.5 billion people, and includes both advanced economies and developing countries.
The UK doesn't need any lessons from a clown like you.
Spain did not have colonies, Spain expanded their mainland into América and founded kingdoms there grouped under the tittle.of Indias Rex, that was also under the tittle of Hispaniarum Rex. The quality of life of Spanish América was superior to any place of.the planet and had higher salary and enjoyed of.the Pax Hispana for 3 centuries. We even had the first black professor in Europe, we had also free black people in the society that enjoyed of good social statues and the same for indians that were also nobles.
That's what I was thinking
Very well done and comprehensive video!
I live in the Philippines where we were colonized for 300 years by Spain, 50 years by USA, and 5 years by Japan. We're still being "neocolonized" by US and China today. Many of us argue that the current wealth of first-world countries not only comes from former colonial exploits, but also skewed treaties, agreements, and trades richer countries continue to impose on poorer countries.
We must really see the link on how poorer countries and communities continue to suffer inequalities due to these historical and current events.
And don't forget the British colonialism of Manila for twenty months from 1762 to 1764.
@@EzekielDeLaCroix well yesh jp is definitely a colonizerr.
Wrong. Our Riches come from OUR HARD WORK. We buildt that wealth. We made the inventions needed for it. The colonies were abondend mostly because they cost more than they bring.
Also the US today doesnt colonise you. Its called Allieship.
you got a modern society out of it stop crying
Or take responsibility for your own actions instead of crying about being a victim and begging for help
Great reporting, Rachel! It has been a treat to see how your work has continued to develop over time.
I was only vaguely aware of Germany‘s colonial history and learned a lot from this episode. I look forward to learning more about this the next time we are in Berlin.
Thanks Rob!
British woman pointing out German doesn't talk much about their colonial past. As John Oliver would say - I feel a bit irony in that :D Video is well describing tho and appreciate courage to bring those kind of topics :)
Looking forward to see some of ideas mentioned in comments.
Sometimes it takes one to know one. Britain is more aware of its colonial past (and the present day effect it still has) compared to the Dutch, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Japanese. The world is rightly critical of the UK. India is one of the fastest growing countries economically and has a huge population so its leaders and large diaspora keep the UK aware of its colonial history and the atrocities it caused. Germany on the other hand does not have many powerful critics. The Namibian diaspora is not that large and they do not have as much soft and economic power compared to most countries. 50% of Namibia's arable land is still owned by people of German descent despite German Nimibians only being 2% of the country. You rarely hear about this though.
Right. Israel is not a powerful critic...
I only learned over Namibia and German colonialism in an elective subject in school in Berlin. One history teacher was very much interested in this topic and therefore did this class. She also made as publish a "reader's letter" to a German newspaper there, which backfired very heavily, sadly. We named the genocide which apparently was not very welcome in the white German community there. The reactions were devastating.
I think it's very cool, that you talked to activists and the director of the Humboldt-Forum. These two views (people affected and historians who need to justify their possessions) are important and interesting. I can only imagine that many white people in Namibia wouldn't talk to DW about this topic, from my own experience.
Ich finde, der Film hätte länger sein müssen, da das Thema einfach zu komplex ist. Ich finde toll, dass endlich mehr über das Thema nachgedacht und gesprochen wird, da ich selbst bis auf den Hereroaufstand nichts in der Schule zum Thema Deutscher Kolonialismus gehört habe, aber es müsste als Reihe oder größere Doku angegangen werden.
Beispielsweise fehlt es auch extrem an Bewusstsein über Qingdao, weil viele Deutsche glaube ich fälschlicherweise denken, nur die Invasion der Briten hätte zum Boxeraufstand etc. in China geführt.
Und diese Zeiten liegen ja auch nicht ewig weit in der Vergangenheit und haben entsprechend natürlich immer noch Einfluss auf aktuelle politische Situstionen. Grundsätzlich habe ich das Gefühl, dass die grauenvolle britische Kolonialzeit gerne als Ausrede genommen wird, um sich nicht mit seinen eigenen kolonialen Schandtaten auseinanderzusetzen. So nach dem Motto "wenigstens waren wir nicht so schlimm wie..."
Nein, meiner Meinung nach macht genau das diese kleinen Filmchen aus: Würze in der Kürze.
Thanks for another interesting and informative Meet the German series videos Rachel and DW Euromaxx.
Thank you for this presentation. Here in the US, we have an ongoing and famously difficult time dealing with our racist past. So all these measures of acknowledgement are steps forward.
Good video!!
In 2016, the German Historical Museum DHM had a big exhibit on German colonialism. I don’t know if it generated a DHM book. I understand there’s some area about colonialism in the permanent galleries too.
It's so impressive that a Germán govt owned News Channel is talking about atrocities the nation did in the Past. A quality that is absent among the British and the Japanese.
And the SPANISH
Germany and the German people aren't to blame because of colonialism, it were mainly liberal and independent ventures wich initiated them.
Being a brit Rachel must have felt the same uneasy feeling while discussing this topic with other Germans.
How are the British, French, Dutch and Belgians dealing with their colonial past.
There was.a lot of opposition by the Socialist in the German government to colonialism. By 1916 all but one colony in Africa were lost.
The German government agreed to invest one billion Euros in Namibias infrastructure, but the tribal chiefs.want the money given to them and the tribe.
@@hansmoss7395 Absolutely right, Herr Moss. Also, Bismarck himself was vehemently opposed to acquiring colonies. Secondly, the activist toward the end of the clip was fundamentally wrong. No "precursor states" of Germany were ever actively involved in the slave trade. If I recall it correctly, there was an early attempt by the Margraviate of Brandenburg in the early 1600s to establish a permanent colony in what is today's Ghana in order to trade with the locals. However, that settlement had to be abandoned after only a few years after it had been repeatedly attacked by the Dutch. There still stands a huge Brandenburgian fortress just a few miles east of Accra, though. I believe it's a luxury hotel today.
@@hansmoss7395 I really didn't want to comment further but as you mentioned the word tribal I couldn't help myself. Namibia is country with functioning govt and they are also a member in UN. They are not a bunch of cavemen. Sure there're some tribes still living in forest areas or remote villages but they don't hold the power. If Germany or any other country wish to do something good there it's practically doable. There're many UN projects, Red cross programs going on. Germany's input can accelerate the progress.
@@thaitom6410 You are right. There is a lot of misinformation in this report.
They speak of 100,000 natives that were driven into the dessert to perish. The natives knew the terrain and where the water holes were located. These numbers have never been substantiated.
Large number of skeletons were not found.
Another one, the display of people.
In Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg for instance, native Americans, Inuit, people from Africa and other parts of the world were on display to include their habitat.
These people were paid and not forced nor were they held in cages.
People in Germany.at.the time had no radio, no movies, noTV. All their information came out off books.
Anything coming from a foreign land was exotic and people were fascinated and curios. We are using 21st century moral judgement for events over a hundred ago.
And how is it relevant how anyone else dealt with their colonial past? Just because they do it poorly, Germany should do the same?
Lol ! The other day I searched about this on google.
DW : Let's make a video.
Me : thnx for giving me more importance than my cat. 🤣
Well, I also learned about the imperial time and the Namibia massacres in school. The connection with the 2 world wars is rather obvious - at least I hope!!! I think compared with most western European countries, or the US, we're still well ahead. At least we don't try to ignore, transfigure, romanticise and white wash that history. In France the academic decolonisation research is much further, but they also started imperialism/colonialism some 250 years earlier. And in Germany we had to unpack the tip of the whole iceberg first.
I also learned about the human zoos as a kid, now living abroad it seems nobody ever heard about it. The whole thing started way back. Even in Switzerland they had those and the biggest such event took place in France around 1930 (yeah, that time!), if I'm not mistaken. In America that exotic and freak exhibition stuff is still part of the romantic in nostalgic movies (e.g. Big Fish). Of course there they don't feature the "black wildling" anymore. And I don't think that anybody in Britain learns where eugenics comes from, that Winston Churchill was vice president of the British eugenics society or that the journal "eugenics reviews" was published until 1969 ... yes, 1969! Talk about it!!!
I also learned about the masacres in Namibia in school, or at least from my schoolbook.
Making the conection between the colonialisation efforts and the crimes of the second world war is valid, but how the two topics connect exactly is a more difficut question. Did the colonial experience create the motives projected on eastern europe or were the same motives allready the driving factor behind some of the colonial ambitions beforehand. This question is made more complicated because the politics of the colonial projects not only differ between Africa and the pacific, but between the single colonies as well.
all colonized countries suffered a lot... but i didn't know about the colonialism period in Germany, thanks for the insight ;)
I like the video a lot and are that there is still much to be done, when it comes to educating and informing people about colonialism and its effects on our world even today. For Germany I was missing some remarks about the non-African colonies, particularly China. And one thing I always deem complicated is the selective analysis of one part of the historic puzzle. The atrocities Germany committed are undoubted and need attention, however taking these actions out of the Zeitgeist of that time in Europe and Northern America and the similar behavior of other European Powers, seems to me a bit too narrow. Germany was late to colonialism and tried to make up by violence and radicalism, with horrible consequence, it took most of its lectures though from other nations, e.g. concentration camps from the British in India. Thus I would suggest to concentrate on Germany, as we need to work through our part of history, but keep reflecting on the bigger frame in which our ancestors acted in mind. Not to ease our conscience, but understand the behavior in context. Does that make sense?
I think I can see where you are coming from, but it is still too "easy" to say that the context somehow vindicates the actions, or to think that this period had no long-term effects. It's definitely a tough topic and we haven't found the answer yet!
@@RachelStewart04 I want to emphasize that I do not want to downplay or vindicate the actions that my nation took. Sorry if that did not come accross. I am however skeptical about not including the context in which these actions took place. Analyzing history in an isolated environment, in my opinion, ignores the complexity of the multilateral interactions that happend during this episode in time. I understand that in a short, entertaining RUclips video you are not able to explore these indepth, but mentioning that colonialsm was in particular a competition between the hegmonial powers of that time, would put the German actions into perspective. That is not making them less horrible or having less of an impact on those immediately and still affected, but it gives people with less basic knowledge about this time, a better compass to understand why nations and people felt that it was appropriate to act in this manner versus the impression that one colonialistic power solely was conducting itself horrobily. That might even give the impression that some colonial powers were actually good, or at least better than Germany. Going down this path leads to discussion about the "proper way" of colonialsm, which is absolutely wrong in my opinion. I think we can all agree how horrible colonialism is and how lasting the effects of colonialism are still today. Thus adding a sentence of context in the sense of: "All colonialistic powers behaved horrible and cross-polniated themselves in the attrocities they commited. Germany was among the foremost of those as they tried to "make up" for the time we needed reunify." Would, in my opinion, not harm the cause of the video, to expose the horrible action, in particular Germany, has to take responsibility for. Would you agree?
@@AeternamLux I see what you mean yes - thanks very much for adding these thoughts!
The guy who answered "China' deserves props for being mostly right. Tsingtao was a German enclave in China, sort of similar to Hongkong or Macau. Tsingtao beer is still brewed according to German standards. i DOUbt this common knowledge in Germany.
Qingdao residents today still brag about their local beer, sausages, and city drainage system. The Chinese railway and mail system, famous for its punctuality and efficiency even during the earlier decades of Communism when almost everything else in China was dysfunctional, are legacies of the German colonial period in Qingdao.
What an irony. A British lady talking about the colonialism by Germany.
DW is a German broadcaster, so the topic of the video is German history. Rachel is well aware of British colonial history! :)
@@dweuromaxx I hope she is
This was very good! Thank you. Nice to see and hear Rachel again - feels like it's been ages since her last appearance.
Been out filming a lot - watch this space :D
I like Germany, modern and embraces Europe and a united future, the UK where I live is the opposite it is insular and inward facing which is bad especially for the young people.
It doesn't embrace Europe , it embraces the body of technocratic theocrat dictators of EU!!
@@easykeyboard8105 Sounds better than what we have in Tory Britain
Nothing youver said is true.
@@sebdcord ok x
I think the britains made the right choice by choosing for them selves, Mark. More countries should do that, so that this EU will be dissolved. The was nothing wrong with the EEC , since 1992, things go south on the European continent!
I was actually lucky enough to learn the German involvement in colonialism in Africa in school. Now, unfortunately, as you learned it yourself, the German school system is horrible and not every school has the resources. time, etc.. to teach it in school. However, it's also worth mentioning that I learned so much in depth about colonialism by Spain on South America and I think if you learn this in detail it sheds enough light about the topic of racism, slavery and colonialism.
The topic is not as important because Germany's role as colonial power was unimportant.
Germany came very late and stayed for only a short period of time.
Germany also invested many times more into the colonies than they ever got out of them.
Some crimes were sadly committed and it's good that Germany recognizes these.
Regarding "reparations":
The western world, including Germany, has donated trillions of dollars worth of funds, loans that were later turned into donations and various kinds of aid.
Construction aid, development aid, medical aid, food aid, all kinds of equipment aid and maybe most importantly aid that included large numbers of personnel traveling to Africa each and every year for decades to help the people there with basically everything.
So these new billions are just the cherry on top of incredible amounts of money and aid in the past 60 years or so.
(Note that Europe has announced a 600 billion EUR package for Africa just weeks ago.
A give away of 600 billion EUR just like that while African leaders love to support dictatorships like Russia and China, as well as manipulate their (not so well educated and hence gullible) population with propaganda so they chime into the song against "the west".
Still, with all those decades of aid in mind I'm pretty shocked by the hate against the west and white people spread by people from sub Sahara Africa, as can be seen regularly on the internet/in social media.
I also find it pretty ridiculous when people blame difficulties today in sub Saharan Africa on colonization, usually with the explanation: "Yea the bad white people stole all the raw materials!"
There is one thing that western do-gooders will never understand: From the perspective of those who receive the free stuff, it is never, ever, enough.
600 billion? Is that real? Europe should do policies for Europe! Why should we care about fu*king africa? They hate us down there even though we brought them out of the bronce age.
I mean youre absolutly right with your analysis. So what should we do? send even more money and apologise even more? Bend our knee and eat the dirt even more? Maybe they will forgive us? Or should we give them their energy back? Stop giving them development money and watch while they all starve to death? I dont know. What I know is that they wont change their mind. And they will keep hating us for what was 80 years ago.
I knew before that Namibia had been a German colony....but I had no idea of the genocide that took place there, nor did I know about the plan/idea of the human zoo.
@MutedBrandy Nun ja ich weiss ja nicht wann du zur schule gegangen bist aber ich (geboren 2001) habe das Thema zumindest ein halbes Jahr lang besprochen
@MutedBrandy IT is absolutly covered.
Too much in my opinion. Just 60k people died in that rebellion (it was a destroyed rebellion, not a genocide). Thats nothing. So yeah to be honest not worth mentioning.
You know nearly every empire/monarchies/republics had human zoos. Even US, UK, Italy, Spain and France. Not just Germans you guys are grossly misrepresenting the situation here.
Just a clarification to the human zoos: the people inside were actors, who were hired and paid for their service. They also had human zoos on Laplanders from Norway for example.
@@onurbschrednei4569 The idea of human zoos is just disgusting anyways no matter how you shape or twist it. Its akin to them being viewed as animal rather than people.'
Don't equate this to being an actor. An actual respectable job.
This is the kind of truth I want to see. Not that sugar coated “Germany’s so unconditionally wonderful” stuff 🙄 Thank you Rachel for some real content that people should absolutely see, instead of living in denial of.
Wow man even dw is German own private news company it is so transparent and it tell the truth amazing man this kind of a journalism I want I want to be a journalism I am currently preparing for that
Thank you for the compliment!
A very impressive excursion into German history, didn't know much about it, wow and thanks a lot!
Thanks for watching!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Any concessions to the modish 'nobility of victimhood' should be avoided at all cost and should most certainly not be expressed in financial ways.
I was born and living in a The Hague suburb when it was bombed some two months before the end of the war by the British by mistake.
Our accommodation was destroyed, my father at the time had been interred for more than two years in a workcamp in Germany, my mother, like many women, had become a post-harvest field sifter and a finder of tulip bulbs, yet I wouldn't dream of holding out a begging bowl to either.
Even if they offered.
Thank you for this informative video! Well done!
Compared to how the Japanese government and most of the older populous have denied the matter of slavery and government sanctioned sex trade (i.e. "the comfort women") during WWII I'd say that Germany has done pretty danged well.
I love your videos, they are always so on point. And you were recording literally outside my building in Invalidenpark.
I think this should be more visible rather than trying to give money. That seems to be the strategy to keep people quiet by giving them money. I think Germany has done well by the way they have mostly approached everything regarding the genocide and all during WWI and II that it is kind of disappointing the way they have dealt with this.
Oh if only we'd seen you in the park - people were not so keen to talk to us there 😅 What do you think would be more fitting instead of throwing money at the problem?
Great to see you again Rachel !! Fascinating video with a lot of information that I was not aware of. Always horrible to see the arrogance of white colonialism and the problems it has caused from then right up to today . The idea of drawing up maps in straight lines ignoring the people who actually live there ! Another example of course is the middle east, Iran Iraq etc. I wish that people were more informed or studied the past in order to understand how and why we are in the state (no pun intended !!) that we are in today.
What do you mean with “white colonialism”? Do you prefer “Asian colonialism” instead?
In my hometown, Wilhelmshaven, is the "Christus- und Garnisonskirche", a church where the names of the navy soldiers form Wilhelmshaven ships, which die in several struggles, are printed on the wall. Over the part of the wall with the dead soldiers from the herero war is a sign which informs over these war and the crimes german soldiers committed there.
Crimes committed by German soldiers? Another Nestbeschmutzer!
Not wrong, but you get a very shifted picture if you think that was THE German History of Colonialism. For 800 years Eastern Europe was the center of German Colonialism. Compared to that Africa was a short, exotic but unimportant period (to the Germans) which was not even popular back in the days and soon forgotten. Doesn't make German War crimes any better of course.
I think the whole discussion is heavily (afro)americanised which is not very helpful. The Afro-Germans today are 95% not even from the former German Colonies, so it is more a "Black vs White Europe as a whole" discussion. But were are not in the USA or UK. The victims who suffered most from German Racism are not Blacks but Jews, Slavs and Gypsies. I think that annoys Black activists as their themes have not the same relevance as in other countries....
0:18 Paris / France - Namibia is a different story than Berlin / Germany - Namibia.
Berlin is a bit more north than London or below the southern tip of Sweden.
Who has drawn this line into this map?
Ugh I must have botched the arrow during editing 🤦♀️ But the >8,000km stands, and that’s pretty far!
I am very pleased about the great comments below; i was hesitant to check the comments initially 😉
Hey! Rachel! I've missed most of your programs, sorry I was totally out of touch, from now on I'm back! Hooray!
This was very informative. I knew about the Germans in Africa but not all the consequences.
Happy to provide the info.
I was very surprised last year when I talked about German colonialism with my girlfriend and she basically didn't know anything about it. I think this should be mandatory for Germans to learn about it in schools.
Mine knew about it from school. I think you might be confused about the powers of the federal states in Germany over education and the curriculum. I take you assumed it would be much like in centralised England. In the best of spirits I would suggest you research before making normative statements! Remember: not because it is familiar it is better. Mind you there might be a significant age gap between our gfs. If this is the case forget the above, but do look it up.
My dad were educated in German Christian School, we lived in former Dutch colony, but the Germans are the ones building schools and educate the indigenous people. 😁
Until World War One Germany controlled Samoa. Several times I have spoken to Samoans, who know their history.(many do not) They have all spoken very positively about the German management of Samoa. They were much less positive about the New Zealand missionaries, who replaced them.
Sounds quite nice, but I assume, noone of them was alive that time.🙊
@@Andreas_Cologne That sort of information gets passed down through families. Independence was still the preferred option.
Almost never heard of any Chinese complaining about or criticizing Germans in Qing Dao. Even some positive urban legend is circulating about reasonability of some of the sewerages they built in Altstadt in Qing Dao. Don't know if those legends are real. But that is it. Zero negative sayings about Germans at that time.
Maybe the Colonial regime is getting idealised after 100 years? In reality, you had the Boxer rebellion, during which Germany committed numerous atrocities.
1. Colonial regime was never praised in any form in China, on the contrary, it is usually used as a nationalism talking point. That makes it more strange that Qing Dao people usually don't hate Germans, throughout the time.
2. Communist never dares to promote any rebellion movement, hence boxer riot was also never pictured as something innocent, and it was not nevertheless. Just thugs encouraged by Qing Dynasty to contain foreign invaders. None of these three sides in that riot, was having any minimum conscience or higher morality ground. But, Germany is not standing out among the Eight-Nation Alliance, the term normal Chinese will use to refer to those invaders, in terms of attracting hatred from Chinese.
3. Point 1 and 2 don't mean colonization is good. It is factual reactions and nuance of different reactions towards different colonists. They loathe Japan, loathe America, sometimes loathe Russia, almost never Germany. Very bizarre fact.
Ich frag mich jedes mal, auf welche Schule ich gegangen bin. Wir haben in der 10. Klasse mindestens ein halbes Jahr den deutschen Kolonalismus im Zusammenhang mit dem deutschen Reich behandelt. Da wurde auch deutlich über den Völkermord in Namibia geredet. Und das war vor über 10 Jahren. In der Oberstufe war das ganze dann nochmals Thema.
Ich kann einfach nicht glauben, dass so viele nichts darüber wissen.
Ja , das geht mir genauso. Es war vielleicht kein halbes Jahr aber wir haben natürlich über die Herero und Nama gesprochen und ich weiß gar nicht wie oft ich irgendwelche "unser platz an der sonne" Postkarten im Geschichtsunterricht analysiert habe.
Allerdings hatten wir auch deutsche Geschichte nach 1945 (also deutsche Teilund bis zur Wiedervereinigung) und auch da kenne ich leider genug Leute bei denen der Geschichtsunterricht nur bis zum Jahr 1949 ging. Was extrem seltsam ist.
Before my country was called Germany it has been divided into several regions and kingdoms. And guess what all these regions and kingdoms used to do? They were going to war on each other. For hundrets of years its been war, short period of peace, then war again. Nobody would have needed to move to america if it werent like this. And how was the situation in africa when the collonial forces arrived? Exactly the same. The europeans just carried better weapons. And thats exactly the same like when Roman troops arrived to central Europe 1.000 years earlier. They carried the better weapons. Should i, a 2022 German now accuse an 2022 italian? No, i'll take all italiani to my heart and call them brothers and sisters. Remember, we're all bleeding red!
It’s infinitely more present in the media and schools than British atrocities during colonialism.
But of course: it must be taught in schools.
Better than some countries, but there’s clearly still more to do.
Considering how Britain, France and Belgium have felt with their own colonial past after doing deeds just as dark if not worse the phrase ‘written by the winners’ springs to mind.
Have you considered describing the Marshall Plan? I would very much like to hear how Germans saw the plan, how effective it was, and how it is taught today.
I went to school 8 years ago and I can describe what we learned about it in school:
At the end off World war 2 the new "front" between the sowjet Union and Western democracies/countries became very transparent. The US had a big interest in rebuilding Europe's economies for two reasons:
1. They wanted to avoid communists uprising by strengthening the economy and people's wealth
2. They wanted to rebuild the economies so US business get the European market back.
Iirc the plan itself helped western European economies (the east wasn't allowed to participate in the program, thanks to moskow) to get back on its feet. It is disputed which role the Marshall plan had in the recovery and many people argue ot was a more symbolic aid.
@@koschmx West Germany got 1.4 billion dollar. The money was definitely helping making a quick recovery. The integration into the western market probably played the biggest role.
I think it's a little controversial how much the aid really contributed to the recovery in Europe. It was definitely helping, that is for sure.
Germany was relatively late in occupying lands overseas. They had pushed settlements in eastern Europe and in Russian lands (18th century) or by the Teutonic Order following the crusades. Then they preferred to fight each other so they had no time to build up fleets to invade other continents. But when the 2nd Empire was set up they got envious of the riches that the English already enjoyed and reclaimed their "share" of the world. The indigenous people living there didn´t matter.
Of course, when it was still South West Africa, the South African Defence Force spent a lot of time on the border between SWA and Angola, fighting the Cubans and the Russians.
There's also the issue of diamonds and uranium that many countries wanted.
Other than Third Reich history, Germany's colonialism history is barely taught in schools. Most Germans know, that Germany had colonies somewhere before WWI, but they don't know the details - when, where and how. I realized first what German colonialism entailed, when I met a young (white) man from Namibia, who joined the Bundeswehr and was in my unit for a few months. Surprisingly, he spoke perfect German and I started to learn a little about the history of Namibia. A few years later I studied history at a University and dedicated a whole semester to German colonialism, so today I'm among the few in Germany who know a whole lot about that part of German history.
I heard very often that German colonialism is barely taught in school, but i actually don't know a lot of people who didnt learn about it in school. Must be either a generational thing or only taught at higher schools (Gymnasium).
@@u.p.1038 As I wrote, Germans do know that they have a colonialism history, because that was a topic in school for a couple of hours or so in history class. But for most, that's it.
@@Dahrenhorst Hours? We spent month with the topic in school.
@@u.p.1038 You do know, that we have 16 different curricula in Germany, and that each school and each teacher can - within limits of course - select their personal favorites out of them? I can imagine, that there are schools which spend months on German colonialism, but if this is true, these are rare exceptions in Germany. Please don't confuse this with Colonialism as a general phenomenon, which is taught at school not only in history, but also in geography, sociology and other classes - and which focus much more on the big European colonial powers like Spain, Portugal, France, Netherlands, Great Britain or Belgium. Within the big picture of Colonialism, German colonialism is only a minor speck, since Germany has joined colonialism only very late and on a comparatively small scale. With all what can be taught about Germany's history, it is hardly justified to actually spend months on 40 years of German colonialism, where between Bismarck and WW1 there were much more important and relevant issues of this time frame to be taught. But as I wrote, some schools are very liberal in allowing their teachers to stick to their personal favorite topics when teaching, and although German colonialism is only a very marginal part of Germany's history, it's surely very interesting.
Congratulations on the courage to speak out about it, Rachael!
Courage should also be to shame the Turks with the century old Ottoman colonial history!!
What exactly made this video courages?
it's not like any other nation's colonial rule wasn't brutal, this is not limited to European nations
Dear Ms Stewart, do feel free to discuss the colonial atrocities and genocides committed by the British all over the world. Never see BBC touching that subject.
Nice video, but they barely touched the surface on the cruelty Germany imposed on Namibia, it was bloody!
1:40 over 35,000 less than the famine caused by the British invasion of German East Africa
I in fact did learn about colonialism and the share germany had in it in my history lessons (in germany during the 1980es), but only from the german, maybe european perspective, that is to say we learned about the motives or goals of german policy but nothing about the genocide for example. The focus clearly was to explain how the events following the vienna conference 1815, the "colonial race" in which germany attempted to conquer it's own "Platz an der Sonne" and the rather complex alliance-policies between the european powers eventually lead to the outbreak of WW 1. That is important to know of course, but since the Herero and the Nama didn't really play a role in these matters, they completely "fell under the table" so to speak. I really hope they teach a more complete version of this story nowadays!
When it comes to reparations, i don't feel competent enough to estimate how this should be done, but i think we should work out an agreement the Herero can live with. I don't want my country to be stingy in places where we caused so much trouble and pain, but i also see how complicated it is to put a pricetag on these things.
As for all the works of art i think we should prepare to give it all back. I recently read the book "Die Schatzjäger des Kaisers" ("The emperors treasure hunters") by Jürgen Gottschlich and Dilek Zaptcioglu-Gottschlich, about how 19. century archeologists in the then Ottoman empire got all the antiques now displayed (and mostly just stored away!) in the Humboldt-Forum or the British Museum for example and i strongly doubt that there is very much that was in fact aquired in a fair and legal way. First step must be to officially admit that and then let's see what remains in Berlin/Paris/London and what goes back to Athens/Troy/Pergamon/Cairo... Maybe send the Mona Lisa, the Nightwatch and Stonehenge to Istanbul, Damascus and Cairo instead? ;-)
German colonialism can in no way be compared with British colonialism. Germany acquired in the 1880es some smaller countries in Africa and islands in the Pacific ocean wgich were taken over Graet Britain at the beginning of WWI. In the other hand, Great Britain had colonialized one quarter of the entire land of the world for centuries.
The Germans (like the Americans) sure have a lot on their plate... but this is a really important historical period to examine - if for no other reason than that modern human societies cannot fulfill any form of progress without acknowledging where their countries have been and what they have DONE... Where DID their great wealth originate? It's not because they were such advanced, skilled people, was it? Thank you, Rachel. A very rich report.
Thanks Michael, hopefully the topic will keep getting more air time 👍
Certainly in Germany it came from intellectual acumen. If you think the Germans got their wealth from colonization, you are sadly mistaken. In any case, such wealth would have been stolen by the allies during their pillage of Germany after WW II. The USA alone stole 50,000 German patents. The magnetic rape recorder being just one of them.
@@BasementEngineer Seems marginally fair. Not enough, though.
@@michaelcapeless3268 Would you mind explaining your cryptic post a little? Thanks.
At least Germany now start to recognize their colonial torture but England and France never did that.untill now.
Spain also
Next do Ottoman Empire Abdool
In tanzania we also have architrcture built by germany
Because of German East Africa.
ok i got yoy
Please also show about dialects of German.
Wow - i did not know ANY of that. Thanks for another informative & superbly presented video.
? The German Empire is different to The Federal Republic of Germany. How far do you go back? Roman times? We can't rewind the clock and change what happened then - we can only change how we treat each other today and tomorrow.
Indeed. It's important to acknowledge our dark past by doing better in the future.
@@dweuromaxx But you don't have to beat the drum over every single slight in history, do you?
Why don't you apologize to Italy for the 33,000 Roman troops slaughtered during the Battle of the Teutoburger Wald?
It's bad enough the German government and judiciary publicly accepts the blame for NSDAP actions for which not an iota of verifiable forensic evidence exists.
You don't have to add to this, especially in view of the fact that no other country accepts blame for its colonial actions.
I live in Canada, where now we have the Pope and the prime minister blaming Canadians for perceived actions that supposedly were committed before Canada became a country, and Britain was responsible for what ever was alleged to have happened.
Einmal wird das Mass voll, and God help those that perpetrated these lies.
The problem is there is no lapse of time in international law
@@bennymuller3379 That's why I suggested that Germany pay compensation to Italy for the 33,000 Roman troops slaughtered in AD 6.
By a decision of the German supreme court ("Bundesverfassungsgericht"), the Federal Republic of Germany is legally identical to the German Empire, that was founded in 1871. It is still the same state, although with a reduced area, a different name, and a new constitution. This decision was vital for the West German policy of striving towards unification as a democratic state. It remains important as a strong legal barrier against extremist esoteric revisionists (so called "Reichsbürger").
Sure, many crimes have been comitted by the colonialial powers.
But the organizational structures, the buildings and infrastructure, the enlightenment culture that was left behind in the colonies benefitted the local people for generations after.
Or does anyone think Namibia, South Africa etc. would be better of today if they had never been under colonial rule?
I don't want to belittle the crimes against humanity that happened in the colonies. But that people in former colonies today pretend that they suffer from colonialism seems hypovritical. While their ancestors might have suffered, the decendants aguably benefitted.
Most of Europe was once a colony of the Roman Empire.
Amen.
Maybe a short mention of the German Kamerun is needed. The plantation forced labor there was worse than you might imagine. Not only was the death rate very high, like 30 % or more did not survive the forced labour, but the punishments could be extreme: slicing of ears, noses, hands and penises, tearing out eyes and decapitations. Body parts were then handed in to the local authorities as a proof of death. Adam Hochschild states that the brutality of German Kamerun was on par with Leopolds Congo.
Germany is no way nearer as bad as what England is. They killed mostly all of us Irish and they killed 20 to 30,000,000 Australian aboriginals and there’s only only about 900,000 aboriginals left here.
It doesen't... they never payed reparation to Namibia despite doing a genocide there.
0:10 Windhoek,Namibia 😗 That was easy ....As for someone who actually have a strong interest in South African History
I don't like the walking-in-circles camera shot at around 1:10.
Otherwise, great content.
Agreed - it ended up being my least favourite shot :P thanks for the feedback!
Doesn’t France still treat its colony brutally ?
Obviously it would be much better to acknowledge what has been done, good and bad. Thats the only way to live together, not only do those countries need help and solidarity, its also good for Germany. Most other former colonial european countries should consider doing it as well. Many turn a blind eye on it.
Colonialism had its negative and positive impacts on Africa. I think this video was completely unbalanced as it focusses exclusively on the negative side of German colonialism only, without discussing what other European nations did, or the fact Germany spent huge sums of money on her colonies while other Europeans squeezed every bit of profit from their colonies. In German East Africa, the German government invested a lot more money than it ever extracted. It introduced new farming techniques, developed infrastructure including rail and lake steamers, improved sanitary conditions and medical treatment saving hundreds of thousands of lives. Education in German East Africa was far superior than in British colonies and following the British takeover literacy fell sharply. The Germans also disrupted the Arab slave trade that went on with the help and assistance of black African tribes for hundreds of years before the Germans arrived. In order to prevent outright revolt among the black African tribes, they allowed some slavery to continue in diminishing numbers. Many East Africans worked for the German Government and German merchants in capacities that were not achievable in other European African colonies, and East Africans fought loyally for the German government until news of the Armistice reached them in 1918. German rule was very beneficial for many African people, more so than the rule of the other European powers that seized Germany's colonies, and more so than under some post-colonial African leaders. Enough with the white self-loathing. If you are going to tell a story, tell the full story.
The guy who said the events of World Wars are more relevant today. How can you say those are more relevant? Probably because he knows the effects of those events more than Germany’s colonial legacy. The Herero people killed, how can you say their pain is not “relevant” now or even less relevant?
That guy is selfish, he remembers the two world wars because Germany was directly affected by it. But when it comes to German colonies, it was the local people who suffered, so he is less concerned about their suffering.
@@nabeelmohammedca you are exactly right! His empathy is selective because he has direct experience of those two World Wars!
Would love to see an episode about pets - dogs, how they are allowed on transport, in stores, etc. what are the most popular pets, etc 🙂
Insignificant compared to what the Anglo-Saxon were up to...
Appreciate DW for making such an informative video. England should also learn to openly speak about their colonial era and condemn the atrocities they committed all over the world.
Germany doesn't do enough to reconcile with her colonialist past if you asked me.
I think it would be cool if you could also address German settlers in South America, particularly in Chile, starting in the late 19th century. Their sometimes violent relationship in the Patagonia with the local indigenous people, the Mapuche, to their history with rape and murder in alliance with the Pinochet regime are parts of German history that have - in many different points - been condoned and supported by the German government. Much of the current violence with indigenous peoples in Chile stems from this time of massive German emigration.
Hello Juan - thanks for your comment and suggestion. Will pass on the idea.
I worked with a Chilean once. He told me, the village he grew up in Chile looked exactly like a village in the Black Forrest in Germany.
I always thought weighting attrocities against eachother doesn't bring any good. But at least you have to know about them and the context.
That was very short, for such a complicated topic! A few parts doesn't add up. As far as I know, great Britain put the lines on the african continent. Its part of nearly every British show that looks back, from comedy to documentary. I watched a lot of British stuff, I love british humor. - so now hearing that is was the Germans makes me wonder.
You can't simply say that some of the artifacts of museums taken from Africa are gifts. Who were the rulers of African colonies when these artifacts were given? Germany doesn't know how to deal with its oppressive past. Here, in Brazil, we have a long tradition of exposing the horrors of our colonial and imperial past to understand the roots of inequalities and injustices verified until nowadays. Germany needs to do it too, and, more than apologizing, take tangible measures to repair its past actions.
You may be great at exposing these horrors, but you keep on destroying the natural habitat of these people up to the present day at the same time. Therefore being proud of yourself is just ridiculous!
@@geotropa1043 Unhappily we're living terrible moments under the current administration, not only on environmental issues but also on social and economic ones. Deforestation, negligence with violence against indigenous tribes (and, more widely, against black people, women, and other vulnerable groups) and activists, and oversight of public health, among many other problems, are making us retrocede decades of advance in promoting social equality. Hope everything will change after the general elections!!!
@@adrielfranco9481 Thanks for your response. I don't know that much about Brazil but your depiction of the current situation in
your country is probable correct and I appreciate your honest reflections! On the other hand, you should perhaps listen to this report of DW one more time. Although being rather over-critical, it still states that germany has already recompensated on a considerable scale, at least in some cases. Also the director of the museum is talking about giving back part of the artefacts which indeed has already begun. Here , the report is sloppy, since it is just omitting the respective question which must have been put to him, otherwise the way he reacts wouldn't make sense. By the way, this lady sometimes comes up with topics that obviously are a bit big for her and which she therefore isn't able to handle that well.
@@geotropa1043 They should give back ALL of the artifacts. Honestly its the right thing to do.
If the museums want to stay open, before they give them back they can create detailed replicas.
Yes, everywhere outside Namibia and inside Namibia it should be said that the Germans were the most benevolent colonists. Germany's handling of the few colonies it had was generally significantly better than most other countries, accompanied by actual investment in the regions rather than just being exploitative.
Britain commits only the violent suppression of colonial uprisings. French authorities abused and tortured Algerian civilians. Electric shocks and the use of water wells as prisons were among the methods used by the colonialist authorities against prisoners in Algeria.
Anywhere else you would see genocides larger than the genocide in Namibia. Except that these facts are not convenient for people to know as they would deal a blow to France and England and not Germany
European colonialism was the single best thing to happen to humanity.
White American male here. I spent 30 days in June of 2022 traveling throughout the marvelous country of Namibia. Prior to this journey, I knew nothing of the Imperial German occupation of this country. What I learned appalled me. Furthermore, I was taken aback by the presence of monuments erected by Imperial Germany praising the murderous acts of the the German Imperial soldiers during the Herero genocide of 1904-1908. Germany has not ruled this land for 117 years, yet these monuments still stand! My impression is that Germans still control many aspects of society in Namibia. I was also taken aback by the obvious poverty of much of the Namibian black population. They evidently are required to live in ghettoes which they call "townships." Many have no running water or plumbing. In my opinion, the German government should issue a check for $10,000 to every verifiable descendant of the German genocide victims. This check would enable these people to improve their individual lot in life immediately. I really enjoyed Namibia; the Namibians were hospitable and welcoming everywhere I went. I found the people to be polite, enterprising, and optimistic. I shall go back again to see more of this marvelous country.
Maybe instead of touring these places for your own amusement and gain you should be giving as many Namibians $10k each as you can afford.
I could give the correct answer to the initial question, mainly thanks to the fact that I have been following the "Itchy Boots" motorcycle ride around the world here on RUclips!
0:19 Well, it's Samoa, China etc., too. (The german beer).
Yet another great video, Rachel
Glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you for your video, it is important for me to know about your country past.
As a citizen of an ex Dutch-colony, the racism was instilled in the society and lasts until today. Most of my fellow countrymen perceive Caucasian as superior and those with darker skin tone from the eastern part ofö Indonesia as uneducated and ugly. It's sad and I'm hoping things will change for the better.
How do you think these prejudices can be challenged today? And is that era discussed much nowadays in Indonesia?
@@RachelStewart04
Q2: It was and is still not discussed. At school we focus on the what, when and who in history. We never talk about how the Dutch, the Spanish, etc managed to conquer Nusantara. Nobody talks about the Royalties that cooperated with those Colonists so that they can be the new Kings. We mostly focus on how great we were to gain our independence ourselves. And I do agree that our Founding Fathers and their fellow countrymen are great. It's just that I wish we also learn from our mistakes in the past, as they still haunt us till today.
Q1: It's hard to challenge it when it is still so widely acceptable. I'm a mixed of Chinese and Javanese, with the facial features of Chinese and lightly tanned skin, the skin tone of fair Javanese. In general both ethnic groups treat me well, but I still hear racial slurs either directed to me or someone else in my present. FYI, I'm fine with stereotyping and racial (i.e. race-related) jokes, but not with insult and back-handed compliments. When I pointed these out, they'd come up with explanations, justifications and the worse: "it was just a joke". My only hope is that the newer generations can be more exposed to such issues, both in school and in their everyday life.
Also, the documentary presenter is kind of pretty and knowledgable.
4:20 We learn about this "chapter" in school...
great video as always. similar to the video about Turkish immigrants in Germany, the more serious topics are so expertly done!
Turkish COLONIALISTS. You though DW was against colonialism, turns out they support non-indigenous European mass migration, aka invasion into Europe. Colonialism is fine as long as it's black and brown people doing it. Turkish Arabs are none European COLONIALISTS.
What is the difference between terrorist and colonisers
And now a BRITISHER is lecturing us about colonial brutality
What an irony
The video is made by a German broadcaster, hence the focus on German history.
Makes current politics more incendiary, when you have Germany telling China, a country they formerly invaded, to calm down over Taiwan.
That´s a really weak argument! Are you serious? Because Germany did some horrible things in the past they shouldn´t try to prevent others from making the same mistakes? That´s stupid!
@@Thorsten_Wiegand perhaps this person is just referring Germany as being hypocritical due to their past. I don't see this person attempting to justify similar actions but in a modern context.