Decolonisation: Missionary work in dialogue

Points of view on the topic of decolonisation from the perspective of mission, culture and politics were exchanged following a cinema evening.

"The Empty Tomb" is the title of a documentary film about the arduous search of two Tanzanian families for their ancestors. Around 100 guests accepted the invitation from the Leben und Umwelt Foundation, the ZeitZentrum Zivilcourage and the Kino am Raschplatz to this special cinema evening in Hanover. The film shows the struggle to come to terms with history from the perspective of those affected, but also the work behind the scenes by museums, activists and politicians.

In the discussion that followed, Minister of State Katja Keul explained her efforts to repatriate the approximately 17,000 human remains from colonial history that are in German museums and collections. Keul, who is accompanied in the film as she receives descendants from Tanzania at the Federal Foreign Office, said that she despaired that the Tanzanian government would not give her a counterpart to implement the restitution quickly.

Dr Emmanuel Kileo, Director of the ELM, criticised a major imbalance in terms of information about this part of Tanzania's colonial history, which is almost exclusively available in German. Furthermore, two world wars, British colonialism and independence lie between the German colonial crimes and today. Even if the German government now wants to come to terms with the past quickly, today's government representatives of the victims must still be allowed to say "no". "The entire process of coming to terms with the past must take place on an equal footing," said the pastor, who himself comes from Tanzania. Compensation payments cannot erase the pain, but they can set an example.

Mareike Späth, curator of the Ethnological Collection at the Landesmuseum Hannover, pointed out the complexity of the topic of provenance research and restitution, be it bones or cultural artefacts looted during the colonial era. A distinction must be made between different levels and interests. None of the German museums were against restitution, it was just a question of how.

The participants in the panel discussion agreed that the topic could not be closed, but was a process that was dependent on dialogue and encounters. "Encounter is the most important thing," said ELM Director Kileo in his closing remarks, adding that politics could perhaps even learn something from the missionary organisation.

Prof. Brigitte Reinwald from Leibniz University Hanover emphasised that today's problems are also directly linked to restitution and decolonisation. She criticised a massive imbalance in terms of freedom of travel: while Germans were constantly flying to Tanzania, researchers from Tanzania were not given visas and therefore no access to local debates and institutions.

The evening was moderated by MdL Diallo-Hartmann, who referred in this context to the "State Action Plan against Racism", in the implementation of which, among other things, the curricula of schools will take a closer look at the topic of colonialism.