Tahir Della is a member of the executive board of the ISD Bund e.V. Initiative Black People in Germany and trainer at glokal e.V. 

Tahir Della is a member of the executive board of the ISD Bund e.V. Initiative Black People in Germany and trainer at glokal e.V. 

Additionally, he is a specialist on the subject of decolonisation in the Berlin promotion group “Eine Welt” (One World) for post colonialism and anti-racism. He advocates for the interests of Black people in Germany and stands for a society freed of racism.

"It is definitely my opinion that Germany has to face its colonial past, has to consider itself responsible. There has to be discussion which emphasizes that they [the Germans] want reconciliation with the formerly colonized and this of course entails the payment of reparations."

- Tahir Della

"It is definitely my opinion that Germany has to face its colonial past, has to consider itself responsible. There has to be discussion which emphasizes that they [the Germans] want reconciliation with the formerly colonized and this of course entails the payment of reparations."

- Tahir Della


What word comes to your mind when you think of the Humboldtforum / Berliner Schloss? Please explain.

On the topic of the Humboldt Forum there is one word which comes to my mind, which pops up consistently: continuities. I think with the implementation of the Humboldt Forum it becomes clear how the relations between the formerly colonized and former colonizers are still shaped by a power structure, by power relations. That is to say the former colonizers, the Global North, are still determining the general conditions, the negotiations on how the colonial history is looked back on and reappraised, is made visible, how looted art is dealt with. And this also shows that this is a very problematic relation. In other words, the concerned parties who were formerly colonized rarely have a chance to speak in this context, and barely have a chance to influence these discourses. And those who are still collecting looted art, these looted objects in European and German museums, are seldom willing to concentrate on the essential thing, which is to promote provenance research. This is research on how, under which circumstances these objects came to Europe, to Germany. And also to establish whether this looted art has to be given back. Mostly they attempt to avoid this; they rather try to sugarcoat it with concepts in order to insist on keeping these objects to themselves.

Do you think that Germany should pay reparations to the Herero and Nama communities that were affected by and dispossessed during the genocide from 1904-08? Please elaborate.

It is definitely my opinion that Germany has to face its colonial past, has to consider itself responsible. There has to be discussion which emphasizes that they [the Germans] want reconciliation with the formerly colonized and this of course entails the payment of reparations. Finally, 100 years later, Germany got off the ground to look back and reappraise the genocide in Namibia. However, [Germany] it instantly sets the conditions in this context for how this discussion should take place. This means from the very start it was ruled out that Germany would pay reparations. This is not a discussion on eye level, but rather the perpetuation of colonial relations: To note that they are not ready to truly compensate for the damage, to assume responsibility for what was done and to emphasize that all parties concerned are sitting at the table.

Now it is solely the government of Namibia which is sitting at the negotiating table, the associations of victims are not involved in the discourses and negotiations. This is problematic, because it exemplifies [the following] again: they decide with whom they will negotiate, to whom they will talk, which results they want to have in the end. They want the topic to be off the table, the German conductor of negotiations said he wants this topic to be settled by January. This shows that actually they are not interested in the process, but they want this tiresome topic to be off the table and to not have to bother with it anymore.

Do you think that a memorial and information center concerning the topic slavery, colonialism and racism should be built in Berlin? Please elaborate.

For a very long time now the black community, the African community has been involved in making colonial repercussions visible within the public sphere. In our opinion, an overarching remembrance policy is needed, including the colonial history and this entails a monument, a memorial for the enslaved, the colonized in order to get this point across: Germany was an actor in colonial history; it extracted advantages from this and is still profiting from it. It has to be made clear in some way that there are even people in Germany, in Europe who are still suffering from these consequences and who want to make clear what happened.

There is almost no awareness in the German public sphere about what Germany caused during its colonial history, and there are barely monuments to be found which remind [people] of that. Therefore my opinion is indeed that we definitely need such a monument in order to make clear that Germany is facing its responsibility.

What’s your take on the many human remains from the Global South that are kept in German museums until today?

One of the worst legacies of colonial history, of German colonial history, is that through questionable research activities, remains of people from the former colonies were brought to Europe, to Germany. These human remains are still in Germany. Instead of becoming less, more and more of them are turning up, so it becomes clearer to what extent this happened. And also in this regard Germany doesn’t really take responsibility for this topic, because it is still argued that up to that point it was not clear of what use the human remains would be. In fact, the example of Namibia showed that the human remains came here under really bad circumstances. They came from the concentration camps in Namibia. And again in this example Germany has problems with consequently reappraising the topic, making it visible and showing the formerly colonized clearly that a process of reconciliation is wanted. This means that it still is refusing to put the focus on that. Instead of that it’s tried to use delaying tactics to avoid addressing the topic. And that shows, like I said, how strong this relation is still permeated by colonial thinking.

According to you, how important is the equal and conceptional contribution of descendants of colonized people to handle the colonial past (i.e. negotiations regarding reparations, museums, exhibitions, representation in schoolbooks, street renaming etc.)?

I am always surprised again and again how rare the knowledge of people with African origin and black people is called on. In the last 30 years, knowledge about the colonial history of Germany increased dramatically. But still it is very seldom that actors here in Germany such as museums and collections are making contact with activists and researchers of the Diaspora to share their knowledge and make clear that there are different perspectives to the colonial history. Until now, the perspective of the former colonists has characterized the discussion and negotiation of colonial history. And in my opinion this is what needs to change. That means that there has to be a change of perspectives, but not only through committing to this topic, but also by showing that an equal relation to the former colonised is being strived for. That means to start the process of letting the voice of formerly colonized people be clearer and more visible and to really involve them in the negotiations. This means that as former colonists, you have the responsibility to approach people of the Diaspora and to invite them instead of waiting for them to demand that again and again. It really means to proactively approach these people and to embed them in the process. This is in my opinion very very necessary and long overdue.