The Maerckerweg was named in 1936 after the colonial officer Georg Maercker (1865 – 1924). The honor coincides with the time of the National Socialist revaluation of German “colonial warriors,” of which the Major General was one of the most prominent representative. 

Maercker was one of the long-serving officers of the colonializing “Wissmann Truppe” and in 1889/90 participated in the war against the Swahili coastal inhabitants in “German East Africa”. Subsequently, Maercker led the first German troop contingent to “Deutsch-Südwestafrika” (German Southwest Africa).

Status of the Renaming

In June 2020, the district assembly decided that the Maerckerweg should be renamed. Now it is important to bring aspects of colonial history, especially the resistance against the colonial powers and against racist and colonialist structures, into the collective consciousness through a historically conscious renaming. 

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