
A stroll into Germany’s conflicted postcolonial memory
In the garrison cemetery on Columbiadamm in Berlin's Neukölln district, there is a four-foot-tall stone which commemorates seven German soldiers who volunteered for the “campaign in South West Africa” between January 1904 and March 1907 and “died a hero’s death”. In other words: this monument does not commemorate victims, but perpetrators of genocide.
The stone, popularly known as the “Herero Stone”, dates from 1907 and refers to a short but important period within the German colonial rule of what is now Namibia (1884-1915). German colonial policy was characterized by land and cattle theft, racism, mistreatment and exploitation. Resistance of indigenous Herero and Nama was ruthlessly crushed.… Seguir leyendo »