In a solemn and historic moment, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany expressed deep remorse and “shame” for the colonial atrocities committed by his country in Tanzania, particularly during the Maji Maji rebellion in the early 1900s. The Maji Maji rebellion stands as one of the bloodiest anti-colonial uprisings in history, where German forces were responsible for the deaths of nearly 300,000 people.
President Steinmeier delivered this heartfelt apology at a museum in Songea, the very place where the Maji Maji rebellion unfolded. In his speech, he stated, “I would like to ask for forgiveness for what Germans did to your ancestors here. What happened here is our shared history, the history of your ancestors and the history of our ancestors in Germany.”
The Maji Maji rebellion was ignited by a German policy aimed at compelling the indigenous population to cultivate cotton for export. During that era, Tanzania was a part of German East Africa, which also included present-day Rwanda, Burundi, and parts of Mozambique.
President Steinmeier expressed his hope for Tanzania and Germany to collaborate in “communal processing” of this painful historical chapter. He pledged to take the stories and lessons from Tanzania back to Germany to increase awareness among his country’s citizens.
Historically, Germany had been criticized for a lack of acknowledgment and awareness of its colonial past, often referred to as “colonial amnesia.” Jürgen Zimmerer, a history professor at the University of Hamburg, pointed out, “The brutality and the racism of this colonial empire was not understood in the German public.”
As part of his three-day visit to Tanzania, President Steinmeier met with the descendants of Chief Songea Mbano, one of the leaders of the Maji Maji rebellion who was executed in 1906. Chief Songea Mbano is now considered a national hero in Tanzania, and the German authorities promised to assist in locating his remains.
Thousands of human remains were brought from German colonies, partly as “trophies” and for racist research. However, limited funding has been available to identify the origins of these bones and skulls, many of which are housed in various museums and institutions. Some descendants have managed to locate their ancestors’ remains with the help of DNA tests.
In a significant gesture, President Steinmeier also vowed to cooperate with Tanzania for the “repatriation of cultural property.” While this apology was welcomed by Tanzanian historian Mohamed Said, he also emphasized that it did not go far enough, stating, “They decided to set farms on fire so people would run out of food and be unable to fight. This is unacceptable; in today’s world, they would be taken to court.”
This apology by the German President comes after Germany officially acknowledged committing genocide during its occupation of Namibia in 2021 and announced financial aid worth more than €1.1 billion. The global community continues to witness leaders acknowledging historical wrongs, with King Charles of the United Kingdom recently recognizing “abhorrent and unjustifiable acts of violence” against Kenyans during their struggle for independence, though a formal apology is yet to be determined by government ministers.
