The Colonial Origins of Nazi Ideology: Genocidal Practices from Namibia to Germany

Abstract

This essay analyses the connections between German colonial violence and the Holocaust, arguing that the systematic dehumanisation of colonised peoples in Africa provided a conceptual and psychological foundation for Nazi genocidal practices. In making this argument, this essay challenges historiographical claims of the Holocaust being an unprecedented event, demonstrating that Nazi genocidal practices represented the internal application of colonial extermination strategies.