On a visit to Tanzania, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier “asked for forgiveness” for the crimes committed there by his country at the beginning of the 20th century. While little was known about Germany’s colonial past for a long time, things have been changing over the last ten years or so, as demonstrated by the recognition of the genocide committed in Namibia.
“I bow before the victims of German colonial domination. And as German President, I would like to ask forgiveness for what the Germans did to your ancestors here”. Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed his “shame” during a visit to the museum dedicated to the uprising of the Maji-Maji people in Tanzania.
In the colony known as “East Africa”, where Germany ruled from 1880 to 1918, a massive massacre claimed between 200,000 and 300,000 victims between 1905 and 1907. The German President called for joint work on this painful memory, and promised the return to Tanzania of human remains still in Germany.
During his visit, Frank-Walter Steinmeier met the descendants of Chief Songea Mbano, a rebel leader at the time, who was hanged and beheaded by the Germans along with 66 of his fighters. His descendants are still searching for the chief’s skull, which was most likely later transported to Germany for study in a museum or ethnological collection, like many African bones from colonial times.