Statement on the closure of the Hamburg (post)-colonial research centre

12 November 2024

On 2 October 1904, Lothar von Trotha, commander of the German ‘Schutztruppen’ in the colony of ‘Deutsch-Südwestafrika’ (today's Namibia), announced the infamous ‘extermination order against the Herero and Nama population groups’. This cruel decision initiated the first genocide of the 20th century, in which countless people (estimates range from 50,000 to 70,000) lost their lives. German colonial history is characterised by violence and oppression, and the responsibility to come to terms with this history lies not only with historians, but with society as a whole.

Around the 120th anniversary of this dark episode, the Hamburg Science Committee decided to close the ‘Forschungsstelle Hamburg (post-)koloniales Erbe’ (Hamburg (post-)colonial heritage research centre) and significantly reduce its funding. This decision is not only a blow to the academic debate on colonial issues, but also a sign of the insufficient understanding and appreciation of the relevance of post-colonial research today. Although it is foreseeable that the academic committee will be applauded by the AfD for its decision, it also points to the continuities and personal ties of right-wing conservative to extreme right-wing fraternities, whose political agenda is implicitly recognised and strengthened within the university. 

The establishment of the research centre ten years ago was also the result of student struggles, which repeatedly referred to the colonial founding history of the University of Hamburg and its entanglements with the city's commercial capital. These could hardly be more blatantly obvious than in the Colonial Institute, founded in 1908, from which the university emerged in its present form in 1919. The bloody exploitation of the territories colonised by the German Empire is thus not only at the beginning of a large part of the wealth appropriated by a few, but also of the institutionalised academic life of this city. The fact that this is less openly flaunted today is mainly thanks to the students, who not only promoted the academic reappraisal of the colonial past, but also took the dismantling of omnipresent colonial monuments into their own hands in a very practical way. Statues of the colonial officers Herrmann von Wissmann and Hans Dominik dominated the forecourt in front of the main building until they were finally toppled in a public action in 1968. The fact that the Hamburg Senate felt compelled to set up the research centre at all can be attributed to international pressure from the former colonised as well as the ongoing activity of students on this topic.

 In recent years, the research centre has been a central location for the critical study of colonial history and its effects on the present. In addition to countless publications, conferences and events, the free app ‘Koloniale Orte’ (Colonial Places) was created as a medium with which interested parties can explore Hamburg's colonial history in a low-threshold and easily accessible way. The closure of the research centre and the associated drastic reduction in funding - from 200,000 euros a year to 75,000 euros for just two years - represents a massive step backwards. Furthermore, the planned integration into the GeiWi faculty will not be supported by additional funding, which seriously jeopardises sustainable research work. It is to be feared that research in this area will only be seen as a secondary aspect within other academic commitments.

The Senate's argument that the ‘(Post)colonial Orders’ profile initiative would represent an improvement in research is misleading. Without the assurance of additional funding, this initiative will be little more than a non-binding network of lecturers who are already busy with other commitments. There is a lack of a clear strategy and the necessary resources to ensure a serious and comprehensive examination of colonial structures.

University President Hauke Heekeren and the Dean of the GeiWi Faculty, Silke Segler-Meßner, have emphatically supported this decision by the Senate factions in the Science Committee with prepared statements and defended it against any criticism. Their actions stand in stark contrast to the needs of the research community. The decision raises questions about the priorities within the university. We expect university representatives to stand up for scientific interests and, in particular, the funding of research, instead of giving in to the ideologically based imperative of austerity measures or accepting them.

In view of these developments, it is essential that students, researchers and the general public work towards a comprehensive and sustainable examination of colonial history. We therefore call for a rethink and a return to adequately funded, independent research that deals with the colonial past in a well-founded manner and addresses its impact on the present. Only in this way can we ensure that lessons are finally learnt from history and do our part to finally overcome the global conditions of exploitation that still exist.

We recommend the following literature for anyone who wants to delve deeper into the colonial past of Hamburg and the university:

1) AStA UHH: Das permanente Kolonialinstitut, Hamburg: 1969. https://sds-apo68hh.de/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/1969-ASTA-HH-Hrsg.-Das-permanente-Kolonialinstitut-ocr.pdf

2) Book by an employee of the research centre on the Hamburg shipping company Woermann, which still exists today, and its involvement in German colonialism: https://www.wallstein-verlag.de/9783835353671-unternehmen-weltaneignung.html (via SUB as PDF)

AStA University of Hamburg, 12 November, 2024