Helmut Bley


Helmut Bley is a German historian. He is professor emeritus for modern and African history at the historical seminar of the Leibniz University Hannover.

Biography

Bley studied educational science and history at the University of Hamburg from 1954 to 1957 and graduated with the first teacher's examination for the elementary school. After further studies in history, educational science and public law, he received his doctorate in 1965. From 1961 to 1965 he was a scientific assistant at the history seminar at the University of Hamburg, and from 1968 to 1975 he was an academic councillor, supervising students from the Third World in the Philosophical Faculty. In the extra-parliamentary opposition of Hamburg he belonged to a circle of left-wing young historians, where his interest in African history was awakened. From 1970 to 1972 he was a guest lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In 1976 he was appointed to a full professorship for modern and African history at the University of Hanover, which he held until 2003.
In 1967, Bley was called in as an Africa expert by the Hamburg district court when the toppling of the Hermann von Wissmann's monument by left-wing students was negotiated, by left-wing students, among others, against the later author :de:Peter Schütt.
In 1968, Bley was one of the first to speak of the Herero and Namaqua genocide following the Rostock historian :de:Horst Drechsler. He fought for political recognition as a genocide until very recently.
In April 2021, at an SPD event, he resisted the attempt to no longer allow statements or scientists to be part of a discussion because of questionable identity politics.

Third-party funded projects

funded by DFG, Volkswagen Foundation und GTZ
DFG
  • Die Weltwirtschaftskrise in Afrika, case studies Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Transkei: Wolfgang Döpcke, Katja Füllberg-Stolberg, Uta Lehmann-Grube.
  • Focus: Militante Konflikte in der Dritten Welt, Kriegsfolgen und Kriegsbewältigung in Afrika nach 1945: Harneit-Sievers : Nigeria, Frank Schubert: Uganda, Gesine Krüger: Namibia, Gerhard Liesegang: Mozambique.
  • Zu einer Alltags- und Sozialgeschichte des Schreibens und der Schriftlichkeit in Südafrika, 1890–1930: Gesine Krüger.
  • Exilerfahrung des ANC von Südafrika: :de:Hans-Georg Schleicher.
  • Gewaltverbrechen im südlichen Afrika: Cape Town, Johannesburg and Salisbury, 1890–1947: Bob Turrell.
Volkswagen Foundation
  • Die Afrikapolitik der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik und der Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1955–1990 - :de:Ulf Engel: Bundesrepublik, :de:Hans-Georg Schleicher and Inga Rost: DDR.
  • Flucht und Exil in Afrika nach 1967: zur Reaktion internationaler Hilfsorganisationen; Fluchtbewegungen, verdeutlicht am ostafrikanischen Beispiel - Thorsten Meier und Freya Grünhagen.
  • Freiwillige Repatriierung von Flüchtlingen in Afrika: eine komparative Untersuchung. Fallstudien Eritrea and Mozambique - Thorsten Meier und Freya Grünhagen.
  • Kämpfer nach einem langen Krieg, Demobilisierung in Eritrea. Eine historische Untersuchung zur Sozialgeschichte des Krieges und zum Prozess der Transformation von Konfliktpotentialen - Hartmut Quehl.