A new square named after Rudolf Douala Manga Bell was inaugurated in Germany last July 1st. The square was inaugurated in Aalen, in the presence of Cameroonian authorities. The inauguration ceremony also witnessed the presence of the current king of the Bell Canton, Jean-Yves Eboumbou Douala Manga Bell, the great-grandson of the Cameroonian resistance fighter who was hanged in 1914 in Douala by the German colonial administration for opposing the expropriation of his people.

The inauguration of "Manga-Bell-Platz" in Aalen is significant. This German city was, in fact, the place where Rudolf Douala Manga Bell resided when he came to learn German at the age of 16-17 in 1891 in Germany, French radio RFI learned from Jean-Pierre Félix Eyoum.  The latter petitioned German authorities for the rehabilitation of Manga Bell, who is now considered a martyr and nationalist hero.

Before this square, two others were baptized in Germany, to honor the resistance fighter. A first square was inaugurated on October 7, 2022, in the city of Ulm, in southern Germany. A second square bearing his name was also inaugurated last December in Berlin, the capital. Germany has decided to rename several streets that recall German colonization in Africa and to honor African independence activists instead of naming them in memory of controversial figures from German colonial history. This choice is what many African activists have been advocating for for decades.

P.N.N