THE LONG SHADOW OF GERMAN COLONIALISM, amnesia, denialism and revisionism

332pp., paperback, Hurst & Company, London, 2024

ISBN: 9781805260455

Henning Melber presents an overview of German colonial rule and analyses the extent to which its legacy has been debated in German society, politics and the media.

"Exposes in chilling detail the horror of Germany’s overseas colonial empire and scrupulously probes the ongoing failure of Germany to own its racist colonial past. This needs to be read urgently and widely."  Susan Williams, author of White Malice

"A passionate, scholarly and timely attempt to put the colonial empire of the Kaiserreich back at the heart of modern German history. Melber analyses the ways in which collective amnesia has obscured the crimes of the empire and helps to explain why the subject has proved so divisive." Philip Murphy, Director of History and Policy, Institute of Historical Research, and author of The Empire’s New Clothes

Henning Melber is Director Emeritus of the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation and former research director of the Nordic Africa Institute. Since joining Namibia’s anti-colonial movement, he has been a scholar-activist. His books include Understanding Namibia and Dag Hammarskjöld, the United Nations and the Decolonisation of Africa.