Decolonial Memories

In this episode, Dr. Ohiniko Toffa, talks about the entangled history of his home country Togo and the former colonial power Germany. He works as provenance researcher at the Ethnological Museum Berlin. In his previous position, he was part of a team at the Ethnological Museums of Leipzig and Dresden which explored the provenance of their holdings from Togo. Dr Toffa has co-edited the volume „Transformative Archive“ published by Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung. He acquired his doctorate in German Studies and Cultural Studies at the University of Bremen with the publication „Christliche Moral und koloniale Herrschaft in Togo: Die Missionskonzeption Franz Michael Zahns (1862-1900)“. The conversation took place on 02 April 2026 in Berlin.

In dieser Folge (deutsch) sprechen Dr. Christian Stachelbeck und Dr. Pierre Köckert über ihr Forschungsprojekt „Deutsches Militär im kolonialen Einsatz 1880-1918 – Ein Kontinuum der Gewalt“ am Bundeswehr-Zentrum für Militärgeschichte und Sozialwissenschaften. Begleittext hier.


Find complete English transcript of the conversation here.


Im Mittelpunkt des von 2024 bis 2028 laufenden Projekts steht die Untersuchung aller Formen von staatlicher Gewaltausübung in den ehemaligen deutschen Kolonien. Nach der Auftaktveranstaltung im Oktober 2025 behandelt der zweite Workshop (Mai 2026) das Thema „Militärische Einsatzpraxis im kolonialen Raum“. Den Abschluss der Serie bildet die Konferenz „Vom Kolonialkrieg zur postkolonialen Erinnerung – Transformationen kolonialer militärischer Gewalt seit 1918“ im Oktober 2026. Die Forschungsgruppe bittet um Vorschläge für schriftliche Beiträge zur Veranstaltung − insbesondere aus ehemaligen deutschen Kolonien − an: PierreKoeckert@bundeswehr.org. Über die Workshops hinaus dokumentiert die Forschungsgruppe ihre Arbeit in wissenschaftlichen Beiträgen, teilweise von externen Fachleuten erstellt, und Podcasts. Das Gespräch fand am 25.03.2026 in Potsdam statt.

In this episode, Flaubert Djateng, coordinator of the civil society organisation Zenu Network in Cameroon, talks about remembrance work on the German colonial era in his country. He is a member of a sub-committee of Cameroon's Restitution Committee that has prepared a national strategy yet to be approved by the Presidency. In Cameroon, he collaborates with Prof Albert Gouaffo ("Atlas of Absence"), Princesse Marilyn (Doual'art), Princesse Espérance (Esperanza Cade), Civil Peace Service (GIZ) and other civil society organisations. Flaubert Djateng hopes for closer cooperation with Germany in remembering the entangled history. The conversation took place on 10 March 2026 in Berlin.

In this episode, writer and poet Neema Komba from Tanzania talks about her current novel project about Nduna Mkomanile, a female leader of the Majimaji war of resistance against German colonial rule. She describes how the fate of her family and community who fell victim to German colonial violence in 1902 has motivated her for the subject. Neema Komba is the author of "Mektildis Kapinga: A silent hero" and "See Through the Complicated", a poetry collection. She is the 2022 recipient of the Miles Morland Foundation Writing Scholarship and the 2014 winner of the Etisalat Prize for Literature in the Flash Fiction category. Her story "Let them eat fruit cake" (published in Index on Censorship), was shortlisted for the 2019 Stack Awards for best original fiction. She is presently a doctoral student in entrepreneurship at Hanken School of Economics/Finland. The conversation took place on 7 March 2026 in Berlin.