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Noun ost omen: Wissmanstrasse in Berlin is being renamed
Photo:
Stefan Zeitz / imago images
SPIEGEL:
You have been fighting for the renaming of Wissmannstrasse since 2005 - today the time has come.
How does that feel?
Mboro:
I'm very relieved.
In between I had already thought that it would never work again.
Germany is struggling with its colonial legacy.
Now I'm full of hope again, it's like a ray of light.
A start has been made.
The Tanzanians notice: You can talk to the Germans.
SPIEGEL:
Hardly anyone in this country still knows anything about Hermann von Wissmann, who was Reich Commissioner from 1888 and then governor of the “German East Africa” colony (now Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi).
How is it in your home country?
Mboro:
Everyone in Tanzania knows him, my grandma often told me about him.
The word »criminal« is not enough for Wissmann - we call him »maafa«, that is Swahili and means »terrible catastrophe«.
With his so-called Schutztruppe he put down the anti-colonial resistance of the coastal population, such an incredibly brutal war had never happened in our country before.
And as governor, Wissmann introduced the taxation of the colonized.
This led to the Maji Maji War in 1905, which cost up to 300,000 lives.
You can't be worse.
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Hermann von Wissmann in 1889 (seated, left): "You can't be worse"
Photo: Image agency for art, culture and history
SPIEGEL:
Wissmannstrasse has long been renamed in many other German cities.
Why did it take so long in Berlin?
Mboro:
It's a mystery to me
(laughs)
.
Berlin is actually so progressive, but when it comes to street names, the city is moving slowly.
Are we too democratic here?
Since 1984 I have been fighting for the Petersallee in the so-called African Quarter, named after one of the bloodiest German colonial criminals, to finally be renamed.
Since 1984!
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Lucy Lameck: First woman among Tanzania's parliamentarians
Photo: akg-images / Africa Media Online
SPIEGEL:
After all, renaming has been a done deal since April 2018.
Lüderitzstrasse and Nachtigalplatz are also to be given new names in the African Quarter, named not after a songbird but after the former Reich Commissioner for »German West Africa«.
What is the problem?
Mboro:
It's because of the resistance of the local residents, but also of the CDU, FDP and AfD parties.
Everyone tries to win the district over - the dispute over the street names is ideal.
SPIEGEL:
Opponents accuse you of wanting to erase history by renaming the streets.
Mboro:
No!
We don't erase history, we first make it visible.
For 15 years, in city tours, exhibitions and lectures.
We want to shake people up, get them to deal with the long repressed German colonial past.
At the beginning and end of Lucy-Lameck-Straße an information board will be set up that not only informs about the new namesake but also points out Wissmann and his actions.
SPIEGEL:
What do you say to those who you accuse of raiding monuments?
Mboro:
In Hanover, a large memorial commemorates Carl Peters, whom we in Tanzania call »mkono wa damu«, »bloody hand«.
Under no circumstances should that go away.
But how about inviting an African artist to erect a sculpture next to it to point out the colonial crimes?
We want to name the problem, sensitize people to this part of the story, set a process in motion.
SPIEGEL:
What does it look like in concrete terms?
Mboro:
Street renaming is just a small consolation, a small acknowledgment of the injustice done to our ancestors.
This must be followed by an official apology.
In addition, Germany has to give us back the stolen cultural assets and "human bones", including the head of Mangi Meli, whom I have been looking for for decades.
These things have a ritual meaning for us and must go back.
We don't steal an altar from the Catholic Church either.
You do not do that.
SPIEGEL:
Are you happy with the name Lucy Lameck?
Mboro:
He wasn't my favorite, I was for the anti-colonial resistance fighter Nduna Mkomanile. But Lucy Lameck is also great: She was the first female member of the Tanzanian parliament and a strong campaigner for women's rights. Actually, her cousin should have come to the renaming. We wanted to have a big Tanzanian festival with dancing until the early hours of the morning. Corona put a spanner in the works. It's still a great day.
