Prof. Dr. Brigitte Reinwald has presented her co-edited book “Das Auswärtige Amt und die Kolonien. Geschichte, Erinnerung, Erbe" in the presence of Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
German colonial history has become the focus of public attention in recent years, particularly in connection with the restitution of cultural assets to the societies of origin. However, the reappraisal of Germany's colonial past, which the governing parties have made their mission in their coalition agreement, also requires a self-critical look at their own institutions.
In the volume “The Federal Foreign Office and the Colonies”, which was initiated in 2021 with the support of the Federal Foreign Office, scholars from Africa, Asia, Europe and America jointly examine the role of the Federal Foreign Office, whose former Colonial Department was directly responsible for German rule in Africa, Asia and Oceania from 1890 to 1907 and from which the Imperial Colonial Office emerged in 1907.
The authors also ask which patterns of thought persisted in the minds of foreign policy makers and diplomats after the First World War and the formal end of the colonial era, and how colonial thinking shaped foreign policy actions right up to the time of the Federal Republic. The contributions make it clear that decolonization and coming to terms with the past are processes that remain the task of German foreign policy.
In addition to the co-editor Brigitte Reinwald, Flower Manase (curator at the Tanzanian National Museum in Dar es Salaam) and Nadja Ofuatey-Alazard (filmmaker, sub-project leader Dekoloniale) discussed the book with the Federal Minister, the event was moderated by Prasanna Oommen.
Speech by Annalena Baerbock on the occasion of the book launch
Presentation of the anthology on the publisher's website
Written by Webeditor PF/Foreign Office
