In the heart of Berlin, Mnyaka Sururu Mboro remains committed to a vow made nearly five decades ago in Tanzania. He promised his grandmother to repatriate the head of Mangi Meli, a revered local chieftain who was executed by German colonists in 1900 for resisting their rule. This pledge continues to fuel his quest, even as he navigates life in Germany, far from his African roots.
At 73, Mboro reflects on the tales from his homeland near Mount Kilimanjaro, a region once governed by Mangi Meli, the king of the Wachaga people. From 1885 until 1919, this area belonged to German East Africa, a massive territory under German colonial control. The brutal hanging of Mangi Meli and 18 other leaders marked a dark chapter in the area’s history—a chapter that left Mboro determined to recover the chieftain’s severed head believed to have been sent to Germany but never found.
Upon relocating to Heidelberg in the late 1970s for civil engineering studies, Mboro learned about Berlin’s African Quarter, a district featuring streets named after figures linked to Germany’s colonial past. One such street, Petersallee, paid tribute to Carl Peters, a notoriously harsh colonial ruler. The street’s name became a focal point for Mboro, igniting a passion to challenge the remnants of colonialism which persisted in the German capital.
Mboro’s campaign, along with efforts by Berlin Postkolonial—a group he co-founded—finally saw the division of Petersallee into two separate streets. One was renamed Maji-Maji-Allee, commemorating the Maji Maji Rebellion against German rule, while the other took the name of Anna Mungunda, a fighter against apartheid in Namibia.
Compared to other European powers, Germany’s venture into colonialism began relatively late, taking control over significant regions in Africa from 1884 onward. These included territories known today as Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania. Aside from Africa, German colonial ambitions extended to the Pacific and China, all of which ended following Germany’s World War I defeat.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock acknowledged in a recent speech that the nation’s colonial legacy was marred by violence and racism, stating the importance of recognizing and learning from these historical wrongs to pave a just future.
Mboro continues his relentless search for Mangi Meli’s head, a quest that aligns with the efforts of Germany’s Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation. In 2011, they inherited a collection of over 7,700 human remains, seeking to identify and repatriate them. However, tracing their exact origins is a complex task.
Parzinger, president of the foundation, reports possessing between 5,500 and 6,000 remains from the colonial era. Research has linked a portion of these to Rwanda, Tanzania, and Kenya, yet the final acceptance from these nations is pending. Successful restitutions of human remains to Namibia and cultural artifacts like the Benin Bronzes to Nigeria highlight the ongoing efforts to amend the colonial past.
Educational initiatives accompany these restitution efforts. The Humboldt Forum museum showcases some returned items, offering context on their colonial plunder and the historical narratives of the territories from which they were taken.
Justice Mvemba, founder of Decolonial Tours, seeks to enlighten audiences about Germany’s colonial past through tours in Berlin. These tours counter the romanticized colonial portrayals in education, presenting a more critical examination of history and underscoring the ongoing relevance of these discussions given persistent racial discrimination.
Mvemba’s personal encounters with racism underscore the necessity of addressing history openly and critically, fostering a society keenly aware of its past to forge a more equitable future.
