Germany’s Forgotten Empire? Teaching German Colonial History from a Postcolonial Perspective

Germany’s colonial history had long occupied only a marginal place in German memory culture, often presented in school history as a minor prelude to World War I. This has changed dramatically in the last 10-15 years. Based on an analysis of recent instructional resources inspired by postcolonial criticism, this paper discusses the potential and the pitfalls of teaching German colonialism – and colonialism more broadly – from a postcolonial perspective. It offers a framework consisting of four guidelines for a critically reflective approach to this topic: challenging Eurocentrism (1), broadening understandings of colonialism (2) and racism (3), and foregrounding colonial continuities (4).