Lüderitzstraße

“A swindler’s legacy, etched in stone?” a passerby might have scoffed in 1902, as Lüderitzstraße received its name. Today, here on Cornelius-Fredericks-Straße, the echoes of that swindle and the subsequent resistance reverberate. Lüderitzstraße, as it was once known, symbolized the audacity of Adolf Lüderitz, a Bremen merchant who “acquired” vast tracts of land in what is now Namibia through a calculated deception. He employed the “Meilenschwindel,” a trick where he led the Nama people to believe they were selling their land based on the English mile, while the contracts actually used the geographical mile, four times longer. This act of colonial fraud laid the foundation for German South-West Africa. Here in Berlin, Lüderitzstraße became part of the “African Quarter,” a neighborhood intended to showcase Germany’s colonial ambitions. The street was lined with buildings constructed around the turn of the 20th century and after the First World War. Ironically, a cafe named “Fredericks” sat at the corner of Lüderitzstraße and Kameruner Straße. It was named after Cornelius Fredericks, a Nama resistance leader who fought against Lüderitz’s land grab and was murdered in a concentration camp in Lüderitzbucht in 1906. The renaming of Lüderitzstraße to Cornelius-Fredericks-Straße in 2018 was a long-fought victory, a symbolic reclamation of history. It honors the resistance fighter instead of the colonizer. This change didn’t happen overnight. Activists campaigned for years, pushing back against the inertia of bureaucracy and the resistance of those clinging to the old name. Even after the district council voted for the change, delays caused by complaints and lawsuits stretched the process for years. The new street signs not only represent a shift in perspective, but also a renewed focus on the ongoing legacy of colonialism. They serve as a reminder that the fight for justice and recognition continues, even here on a quiet street in Berlin.