1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
Live TV
Latest audioLatest videos
In focus
Israel-Hamas warRussia's war in UkraineSouth Africa
Bundespräsident Steinmeier in Tansania
Image: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa/picture alliance

German colonialism

Until 1918, the German Empire ruled over colonies in Africa, Asia and Oceania. The systematic violent oppression of the people living there is only gradually being dealt with.

Skip next section Reports & Analysis

Reports & Analysis

Director Samuel Ishimwe is seen from the back as he interviews his aunt in a schoolroom. Cameraman Robert Richter is standing to his right, and Sam's uncle is seated across from Sam.

Rwanda: From colonialism to genocide

Rwanda: From colonialism to genocide

A DW documentary traces the arc from German colonial rule to the genocide in Rwanda.
CultureApril 2, 2024
A sign on a beach demarcates a "Whites only" area in South Africa during the 1970s

Scientific racism's roots in colonization

Scientific racism's roots in colonization

Anthropologists used Germany's colonial conquest in Africa to promulgate racist theory, and create racial hierarchies.
HistoryApril 2, 2024
German troops prepare for war in this archive photograph

When colonial Germany committed genocide in Namibia

When colonial Germany committed genocide in Namibia

Between 1904 and 1908, German colonial authorities committed genocide of Ovaherero and Nama people in Namibia.
HistoryApril 1, 2024
German officers recruit Togolese men in traditional dress into the army

Togoland: Germany's first and smallest African colony

Togoland: Germany's first and smallest African colony

Togo was promoted as "a model colony." But it was a self-serving myth for German colonial administrators.
HistoryMarch 18, 2024
Cheryl McIntosh stands in front of a collage

Germany's colonial era: Battling oblivion with art

Germany's colonial era: Battling oblivion with art

Street names, monuments and graves of colonial rulers: the colonial era left its mark on Germany.
HistoryMarch 16, 2024
Skulls from the anthropological collection of Rudolf Virchow. Right and left are Microcephalic skulls, in the center a normal-sized skull.

How Germany is handling human remains in museum collections

How Germany is handling human remains in museum collections

German museums and universities still hold thousands of colonial-era human remains. Can their origins still be traced?
HistoryMarch 12, 2024
Show more
Skip next section In the spotlight

In the spotlight

Berlin train driver Martin Dibobe stands by his train in Berlin

The man who revealed the flaws of German colonial ambitions

Quane Martin Dibobe became a pioneering human rights activist and challenged Germany's exploitative colonialism.
HistoryFebruary 22, 2024
File photo shows the Adolph Woermann steamer docking

How German merchants drove colonialism in West Africa

German businessmen saw immense profits in colonial-era trading, and could count on German military support.
HistoryJanuary 30, 2024
Sign showing the town of Lüderitz

Shady deals: How German colonists bought an empire in Africa

Dodgy land contracts by German merchants helped legitimize German colonial claims in Africa.
HistoryDecember 6, 2023
German President Steinmeier in Tanzania

German president apologizes for colonial crimes in Tanzania

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier apologizes for the Maji Maji massacre and other German colonial abuses in Tanzania.
PoliticsNovember 1, 202305:01 min
The Molelia family receives DNA results from Valence Silayo (r)

Tanzanians demand return of ancestral skulls

Colonial-era skulls, looted as war trophies, have been matched by DNA tests to Tanzanian families — who want them back.
SocietySeptember 22, 2023
Mandenga and Emilie Diek sit with their daughters Erika and Doris

Making Afro-German history visible

The Afro-German Diek family has been living in Germany since 1891, but are still fighting for recognition.
CultureAugust 10, 2023