Research on the German past in colonial South Africa – horizons of hopeBased on the study process investigating the role of ‘German evangelical work abroad’ in colonial South Africa [from 1652 until the 1920s], which was initiated in 2004 by the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland and the United Evangelical Mission (UEM) within the framework of the commemoration events for the 100 year anniversary of the genocide and colonial war in Namibia [part of former German South West Africa], selected events and developments from that phase of colonial history are examined to determine to what extent the knowledge gained from analysing the injustices committed and suffered, which have been repressed and sometimes even denied until now, could be brought into the public consciousness and consulted in order to come to terms with that mutual phase of colonial history in such a way that the coexistence of the people and the relationships between the successor states concerned [Republic of Namibia, Republic of South Africa, German Federal Republic] at least conform to the international law stipulations that have since become valid and establish horizons of hope for wider-reaching reconciliation and a policy of peace.