ドイツ大統領、植民地時代の犯罪の「許し」請う　タンザニア

【ベルリンＡＦＰ＝時事】ドイツのフランクワルター・シュタインマイヤー大統領は１日、訪問先の東アフリカ・タンザニアで、自国が植民地支配中に犯した犯罪を「恥じる」と述べるとともに、その残虐行為に関する自国民の認識を高めていくと約束した。（写真はドイツのフランクワルター・シュタインマイヤー大統領）
　独領東アフリカの一部だったタンザニアでは、１９０５～０７年に植民地史上最大の流血の惨事といわれるマジマジ反乱が起きた。専門家によるとこの反乱の際、独軍によって２０万～３０万人の先住民が虐殺された。
　シュタインマイヤー氏は、反乱の歴史を伝える南部ソンゲアのマジマジ博物館を訪問。独軍による虐殺を「恥」だと明言し、「ドイツ人があなた方の祖先にしたことに許しを請いたい」と述べた。
　また「ここで起きたことは、われわれが共有する歴史だ。あなた方の祖先の歴史であり、ドイツにおけるわれわれの祖先の歴史だ」と述べ、さらに「われわれドイツ人は、あなた方が心を休めることのできない未解決の答えを共に探していくことを約束したい」とし、過去の「共同処理」に取り組む用意があると述べた。
　シュタインマイヤー氏は前日の１０月３１日、ダルエスサラームでサミア・スルフ・ハッサン大統領と会談した際、植民地時代にタンザニアから略奪された「文化財や遺骨の返還」に関し、国として協力する姿勢を示していた。
　英国のチャールズ国王も同日、訪問先のケニアで、植民地時代の独立運動を英国が弾圧したことについて「忌まわしく、正当化できない暴力行為」があったと認め、「過去の過ちについて最も深い悲しみと遺憾」を表明した。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2023/11/02-15:56）

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Wednesday expressed his shame at crimes committed during Germany's colonial rule in Tanzania and pledged to raise awareness of the atrocities in his own country.
I would like to ask for forgiveness for what Germans did to your ancestors here, Steinmeier said during a visit to the Maji Maji Museum in the southern city of Songea, according to a transcript of his speech.
Tanzania was part of German East Africa, which saw one of the bloodiest uprisings in colonial history between 1905 and 1907.
Experts say between 200,000 and 300,000 members of the indigenous population were brutally murdered during the so-called Maji Maji Rebellion, mostly as a result of the systematic destruction of fields and villages by German troops.
Steinmeier said Germany was ready to work with Tanzania towards a communal processing of the past.
What happened here is our shared history -- the history of your ancestors and the history of our ancestors in Germany, he said, promising to take these stories with me to Germany, so that more people in my country will know about them.
I want to assure you that we Germans will search with you for answers to the unanswered questions that give you no peace, he added.
John Mbano, whose ancestor Chief Songea Mbano was killed in the Maji Maji Rebellion, said he welcomed Steinmeier's words.
We have been crying for years, now it is the time to end our crying, the 36-year-old lawyer told AFP by phone after meeting the German president in Songea.
Mbano added that he hoped for a good relationship between Tanzania and Germany.
The museum visit came on the final day of a three-day trip to Tanzania by Steinmeier, who on Tuesday also opened the door to the return to Tanzania of artefacts looted during the colonial era.
Germany is ready to cooperate on the repatriation of cultural property and human remains, he said after meeting President Samia Suluhu Hassan in Dar es Salaam.
- Mass killings -
Steinmeier's trip coincides with a visit by Britain's King Charles III to Kenya, also dominated by conversations about the colonial era.
Germany's much-lauded culture of historical remembrance has focused strongly on the atrocities it committed during World War II including the slaughter of six million Jews in the Holocaust.
Over the past 20 years, however, Germany has been gradually starting to talk more about the crimes it committed during colonial times.
In German South West Africa, now Namibia, Germany was responsible for mass killings of indigenous Herero and Nama people that many historians refer to as the first genocide of the 20th century.
Germany has returned skulls and other human remains to Namibia that it had sent to Berlin during the period.
In 2021, the country officially acknowledged that it had committed genocide in Namibia and promised one billion euros ($1.06 billion) in financial support to descendants of the victims.
Germany has also started to return cultural artefacts looted during the colonial era.
Last year, it began sending back items from its collections of Benin Bronzes, ancient sculptures from the Kingdom of Benin, to Nigeria.
The 16th-18th-century metal plaques and sculptures, among the most highly regarded works of African art, are now scattered around European museums after being looted by the British at the end of the 19th century.
Berlin's Museum of Prehistory and Early History has also been carrying out research on around 1,100 skulls from German East Africa since 2017, with the aim of eventually returning the remains to the relevant countries.
In September, the city's museum authority said researchers had identified living relatives in Tanzania of the people whose skulls were pillaged.