German Colonialism, Mnemonic Devices, and Transcultural Memory in Jürgen Leskien's Einsam in Südwest (1991)

This paper aims to analyze the construction of German colonial memory that runs across the boundaries of space and time. The problem cannot be separated from the constructions made by the author in various literary works, one of which is the novel Einsam in Südwest by Jürgen Leskien, which was published in 1991. This novel contains a diary that depicts the life of the main character Hermann Köppen in the German South-West Africa region, a former German colony in Africa. Diaries and monuments become mnemonic devices in this novel that carry the memories of the colonial Germans wandering until the end of the 20th century. These two mnemonic devices are constructed to change their meaning along with the times. The transcultural approach was chosen as this study's philosophical assumption and paradigm to answer this question. The results show that memory is no longer a single entity. It is also influenced by culture and other memory bearers. This process shows that efforts to lead a single memory in a country are no longer relevant. Openness to other views and influences on the dominant memory must be part of an available memory politics.