Polemics and other arguments
-
a German debate reviewed
Jakob Zollmann
Abstract
The German colonial past has been seemingly a non-issue among German historians
for decades. In recent years however more and more research on this aspect of
the German Kaiserreich has been published. For some scholars the subject of
(causal) connections between 'Windhoek and Auschwitz' seems to lie at the heart
of the question of German colonialism. This article aims at depicting the arguments
presented by the exponents of this school of thought. In the way they focus
on the possible links of Germany's colonial past and National Socialism, it
is argued in this review article, they neither show the ability to handle adequately
the issue of the Holocaust nor do they extend our knowledge of Namibian history
as other scholars have been able to.
Journal of Namibian Studies, 1 (2007): 7 - 37