Berlin’s Black community celebrates renaming of street after African heroes

After a long struggle, Berlin’s Peters Allee will be renamed Maji Maji Allee and Anna Mungunda Allee on Friday (23 August). The previous name, Petersallee, honoured Carl Peters, founder of the colony of German East Africa, who was notorious for his crimes against Africans.

The new street names commemorate two significant figures: Anna Mungunda, a Namibian national heroine who fought against apartheid, and the “Maji Maji,” the battle cry of the Tanzanian resistance movement against German colonial forces.

Anna Mungunda (ca. 1932–1959) played a pivotal role in Namibia’s struggle against apartheid. In December 1959, during protests against the forced relocation of residents in Windhoek’s Old Location to racially segregated suburbs, she poured petrol on a high-ranking official’s car in defiance. Mungunda was shot dead by the South African apartheid regime during what later became known as the Old Location Massacre.

The Maji Maji War (1905–1907) was a major rebellion against German colonial rule in what is now Tanzania. Harsh policies, including forced labour and high taxes, led to widespread resentment and eventual uprising. Though the rebellion was crushed by 1907, resulting in the deaths of 200,000 to 300,000 Africans, it remains a symbol of resistance against colonial oppression and an important chapter in African anti-colonial history.

The renaming of Berlin’s Peters Allee will be celebrated on the International Day Against Enslavement with a commemorative march in Berlin’s African Quarter, honoring the resistance fighters of the Maji Maji War and other struggles against colonialism and racism worldwide. The event will begin at the corner of Kamerunerstraße and Müllerstraße at 1 pm, followed by the official renaming ceremony at Manga-Bell-Platz at 3 pm.

Sola Jolaoso