In Nambia, two towns and a stretch of coastline were renamed last week by President Hifikepunye Pohamba. The names Lüderitz, Schuckmannsburg and the Caprivi Strip thus disappear from the map.

In Germany, on the other hand, colonial street names remain despite a variety of protests. In Munich, for example, the city council rejected a request by the Foreigners’ Advisory Council to rename streets named after colonial criminals and mass murderers. An alliance of civil society organizations and initiatives is now calling for a responsible decolonization of Munich’s street names.

Current exhibitions on colonial street names and the resistance against them can be found in Berlin, Hamburg and Munich.