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Distinguished scholar Prof. Aleme Eshete passed away

Posted on by EthiopianReview.com

We have been informed that distinguished Ethiopian historian and political science scholar Professor Aleme Eshete has passed away. Prof. Aleme has been living in Italy for the past several years. He has published several influential papers on Ethiopian history, including The Cultural Situation in Socialist Ethiopia (1982); The Role and Position of Foreign-Educated Interpreters in Ethiopia – 1880-1889; European Political Adventurers in Ethiopia at the Turn of the 20th Century; A Page in the History of Posts and Telegraphs in Ethiopia: 1899-1903; La Cia in Africa.

The Ethiopian Review staff extends its condolences to the family of Prof. Aleme Eshete.

VIDEO: Prof. Aleme Eshete on Ethiopian history

48 thoughts on “Distinguished scholar Prof. Aleme Eshete passed away”

  2. I have a strong belief that we, Ethiopians, have lost one of our distinguished teacher. Gashe Aleme has passed away but he will remain etched in our memories for ever. We will Hold tight to those memories for comfort. May God bless Gashe Aleme’s soul.

  5. This is what life is all about. You are here today. And you are no more tommorrow. Just like vapor. You are seen now. And gone minutes later. Life is short. Very short.

    Life is a coin. You can spend it anyway you want. But you can spend it only once.

    How are you spending your life? Are you spending it to free your people like Abune Petros, Professor Asrat, Professor Aleme etc? Or are you spending it only on yourself dreaming about money you will never get?

    What do you want to be written on your tomb after it is all over? ” Wasted my whole life on myself and got nothing” Or ” I have kept the faith. I have done what I could. I have finsihed the race. And I am proud to pass on it to you who are living.” Professor Aleme Eshete will have the latter one written on his tomb. God bless his soul. And he will be remembered forever for his love of Ethiopia and his devotion to his people.

  8. A country blessed with distinguished personalities that could never see the light at the end of the tunnel. How sad, how frustrated and how depressed I am, only the lord knows. At an age where elders like him should have a peaceful retirement, the condition of their coutry has made thier death a double death. I knew Prof. Eshete since I was 5 years old. He was my moms boss at Addis Ababa university. I guess our heroes are fading away. RIP

  9. ፕሮፈሰር ዓለም እግዚአብሀር ነፍስዎን ይማር. በደርጉ ዘመን በእወሮፓ 1986 ኣካባቢ ለሰራ
    እንደውጡ በቀሩበት ወቅት በ ቪኦእ ራዲዮ መግለጫ ክስጡበት ጀምሮ ባገር ወዳድነታቸው ኣውቃቸው ነበር፣ እግዚአብሀር በተሰባቸውን ያጽና

  10. A man who shouldn’t have died passed away. Prof. Aleme Eshete was a genuin Ethiopian who dedicated the whole of his life for Ethioipia and Ethiopians. It is a great loss for his family and still a greater loss for all Ethiopians who are languishing in a state of half dead and half alive under the Woyane dictatorial grip. May his soul rest in peace!!

  11. Ethiopia lost a grand scholar and defender of her history and cultural heeritage.

    I express my deepest condolence to his family and pray that his soul rest in eternal peace.

  12. R.I.P Prof.Aleme!
    It is a sad news! I Know Pro.Aleme .Since 1990. when he came to
    Bremen,W.Germany.
    He was a great Hisorian ,It is very sad to lose such a great man. I send a condolence to his family and Ethiopian people.
    Goodbye deae Prof.Aleme Eshete! we will never forget you!!
    R.I.P
    Damte
    from Rüsselheim , Germany

  13. I know Professor Alem Eshet, and he was an Ethiopian patriot.
    Professor Alem never hesitated to express his opinion even against dictators such as Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam. At one time Col. Mengistu,who was advised by Dr. Senay Like, said there was a foreigner who had been a prime minister of Ethiopia. Every one knew that was not true but said nothing about it. It was Professor Alem Eshete who publicly said there was no such a person in Ethiopian history. Mengistu and Senay kept quite and every body expected the arrest Alem. Nothing happened and the story died.
    At one time Professor Alem referred to the Oromos as Gallas in a history class, and there was an uproar, but Aleme stuck to his gun because he was referring to a name in history.
    As a historian Aleme knew and wrote against the CIA and what it had been doing in Ethiopia over the years.

    Professor Aleme was a patriot and a courageous one at that, and we should appreciate his courage and love of country

  19. I admire both professors for their analytical thinking and civilized manner. God bless Prof. Aleme Eshete. Anybody knows where I can get the remaining portion of the video?

  20. We have lost a great Ethiopian patriot, a techer and a universal humanright campaigner.
    I know Prof Aleme Eshete for a long time.
    I am very sadened by his death.
    May all mighty God bless his soul!!
    Hereby I express my heart felt condolence to his family and his friends in Ethiopia and all over the world.

    Ayo Momina

  24. Dear my feiiow readers Ethiopian,
    The sudden death of Professor Aleme Eshete is a great loss for his family and still a greater loss for all Ethiopians who are languishing in a state of half dead and half alive under the Woyane dictatorial grip. May his soul rest in peace!!

    R.I.P.

    Abiy Ethiopiawe Segawi W-Menfesawi

  25. May his soul rest in peace!

    I have to admit I do not know Professor Aleme Eshete closely enough. I have known him from distance and read a few pieces of his writings.

    I am prompted to leave this note by Demeke’s remark – that the Professor always chose to refer to Oromos as Gallas. That is fine, but I beg to differ that he did so out of a genuine choice rooted in telling authentic history. He spent his entire life studying Ethiopia’s history but he seemed never ever to have come round to understanding or recognizing the Oromo viewpoint. I clearly recall a dialogue between Aleme Eshete and Bulcha Demeksa a while back, during 1990s in the Ethiopian Review. During those days, there used to be heated debates among Ethiopian intellectuals (actually including Eritreans).

    Bulcha was passionately defending the unity of Ethiopia, and ridiculing any idea of Oromo secession as a meaningless attempt, because Ethiopia less Oromo can never be a viable entity. However, he pleaded that we needed to recognize our diversity and respect each others’ cultures. To my utter astonishment, Aleme Eshete, someone I have associated with a Unionist view, was vehemently attacking Bulcha for even attempting to say anything to do with Ethiopia’s diversity and injustices in the past.

    He was arguing that we need to bring back the 14 Teklay Gizat. He dismissed as preposterous any viewpoint that we cannot reverse some of the things like the current regionalization of Ethiopia – ‘a single awaj can do the reversing!’ he asserted. He expressed his utter displeasure with a lioness (Oromia) comfortably lying in the middle of Ethiopia. He claimed that any time she feels like it, she would just get up, stride around, catch and eat the sheep one by one(the rest of Ethiopian regional states) that are scattered around her.

    You see, Demeke, the small classroom incidence was actually rooted deeply in a prolonged and biased viewpoint which has been formalized in writing Ethiopian history in a particular way by particular group of historians. If for whatever reason a particular section of society perceived a certain expression as derogatory and hated it, then I would think it is unjustifiable, unreasonable, and most importantly, counterproductive for a historian to insist on using it regardless. Writing Ethiopia’s history in such a stubborn way sounds like a cruel joke. Moreover, this would not have any positive contribution to the cohesion and unity of Ethiopia. You know, I sometimes feel that those who have shouted the loudest about Ethiopian unity have contributed the greatest to the country’s lack of cohesion and progress.

    This is a sad moment, we have lost one of its important historians. I respect Professor Aleme Eshete’s views and I recognize his contribution to Ethiopian history at a particular era. However, while celebrating his life, we can also use this moment to reflect on things we need reconsider in writing and re-writing Ethiopia’s history. Ethiopia desperately needs a new generation of historians who will encourage us to accommodate, tolerate, and compromise each other.

    Bonsa

  26. To 23. Sululta:

    Please be civilized. You can always find a forum to express your feeling towards Endrias Eshete and god is the one that allowed him to continue to live. Not that I care about him but here we are expressing our condolence on the death of Prof. Aleme Eshete and if you are sad just do that.

  31. God knows two classes of people saints and sinners; Ethiopians are accustomed with two groups of people Patriots and bandas.These are not mere appellations we can pick and choose to apply to others, but something referable to ourselves. From glimmer knowledge I have about the teachings of this professor, I sense there is a pervading patriotism and passion for the veracity of his subject in the vein of Dr.Aleme Eshete .Death is inevitable to every one of us; the question is not whether each one of us is to die, but do I made any positive contribution to the country or I lived my life as a sell out?
    May the Lord comfort his family as they mourn this lose; may his soul rest in peace.

  32. We have lost a great Ethiopian Patriot. Pro. Aleme was a courageous and devoted Ethiopian. He has guts to express his opinion publicly to the political leaders. He contribute a lot to Ethiopian History. He loved his country and the people. whatever the cause of death is Hope he did not suffer. What a loss!

    May God Bless His Soul!

  33. My condolence and sympathy to his family. Ethiopia lost one of her great sons.
    If somebody knows anything about the cause of his death,if it was natural, and the date please let us know.

  34. Ethiopia has lost someone very important! a honest historian, who has inspired many of as to always believe in ourselves and never sell ourselves short.
    He was an extraordinary man who did extraordinary things with honesty and integrity. Thanks you so much Prof. Aleme Eshete. You will be missed from many now and the future, but you will live in our memories.

  35. to 23. Bonsa

    You sound like a very well informed and civilized person. Again as I have said in my comment above, we can find a forum to adress our grievances on Prof. Aleme Eshete or any body else. Lets just use this forum to express our condolence on the death of this man. Even Jesus christ won’t be accepted or was not accepted by anyone.
    First of all I am not an Oromo. But I do know for a fact that if a scientific DNA data collection is performed on me, there will be an Oromo DNA in me. Lets not waste our lives with the home work that seems endless give to us by the enemies of humanity. We all know deep inside our heart that we are the same people. Eritreans, Tigreans, Oromos, Amharas, Kambatas, Gurages etc… but that is a stigma left upon us that keeps us poor, bitter, disgruntled and so forth.
    If any of ethiopia’s ethnics are insulted we are all insulted. Lets not kid our selves. Oromo vs. Galla. For me Galla sounds better than Oromo. For you no because you have accepted the fact that the outsiders instilled in your mind. I may not because I look at the big picture that there has been conspiracy against my people to divide us in every way including names. Probably, could it be that fact why Prof. Eshete wanted to stick to the name Galla? I just see a man who is stubborn and honest rather than a hateful man.

  39. Our condolences to the Eshete family, especially to Mrs. Fekerte Eshete and her husband Girma Ayalew, living in the Neterlands.
    We wish you all the best.

    Sara and Aron
    Diemen, The Netherlands

  40. My condolence to all his family and friends. I met the Professor Eshete during the first Ethiopian Diaspora forum at the Bremen University, Germany, back in the ’90s.

    RIP!

  41. To Tezibet * 26

    Your understanding of civilization is uncivilized.

    There are two possible imaginable opposite forces in this world. GoD and Satan. While the honorable Prof Alem Eshete followed the pathes of truthfulness-GOD (RIP as you said), your Indrias EShete strictly follows the pathes of lies and treacher-Satan.

    Uncivilized is ” Dinkuan Serto yezin nifiro mebilat” not discussing opposite forces.

    thank you and God bless our beloved Alem Eshete. He will be always Eshete.

  42. በሮም ኢትዮጵያ አንድ ትልቅ ትልቅ የታሪክ ምሁር አጣች
    በሰደት ከ1986 ጀምረው ሮምን መቀመጫቸው ያደረጉት ፕሮፊሰር አለሜ እሸቴ በተወለዱ በ71
    ዐመታችው በ23/02/2011 ከ40ቀናት በፊት በ04/04/2011 በሮም ግብጳውያን ኮፕቲከ ቤ/ክ
    ሰርዐተ ጶሎት ተደርጎ በፕሪማ ፖርታ በተሰኘ መካነመቃብር አሰክሬኑ ያርፋል
    ለቤተሰቦቻቸው ጵናቱን ለሳቸው ደግሞ ምረቱን ይሰጣቸው
    አሰከዛሬ መሞታቸው ለምን ተደብቆ ቆየ ¬?
    ለምን በሮም የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶስ ቤ/ክ ስራተ ጶሎት አልተደረገም ?
    ይህንን ሌላ ጊዜ አመለስበታለሁ…..

  43. It is so sad, so many prominent Ethiopians, although their heart is in Ethiopia, they end up dying over seas because the evil TPLF makes sure they don’t go back as if it is the place of TPLF to say who is Ethiopian and who is not. Those people of the ill should put a will to be burried in their country. TPLF does not own Ethiopia only by gun and barrel.

  44. Well, as usual TPLF like Bonsa is comig here to try to divide our people Oromo VS Amaras, etc, etc. This is their chance to demonize any prominent Ethiopian Amara or not that were popular or liked by Ethiopians. TPLF is succeeding by slowly killing and destroying prominent Ethiopians that were linked in the past as Amara or not. It is because they want to destroy any generation prior TPLF as if under TPLF even Tigrayans so far no fruitful ones in Ethiopia so far. Because they rule with hate.

  45. We know Prof. Aleme Eshete in Hamburg, in Berlin and in Frankfurt Germany.
    He was the most outstanding Prof. of Ethiopian history. Moreover, he was a watchdog of human rights violation everywhere above all in Africa.
    God bless his soul.
    The Ethiopian community in Berlin will remember him forever.
    our condolences to his family and friends in Europe and North America

    Deribe Gezimu
    Getu Ketsela
    Desta Taye
    Gelebewu Sengogo
    Yewubdar Abebe

  46. To: Love and Tizibt

    There is no way I can prove to you that I can by no means be a Woyane/TPLF. I am just a humble Ethiopian who occasionally expresses his views where and when I feel necessary and appropriate. I despise thuggish and jingoistic political discourses, and I strongly believe these are inherent traits among, not just our politicians and activists, but also a good proportion of our intellectuals. This has become a vicious circle – the intellectuals generating ideas that feeds to political and activist circles and the latter producing enough materials for the intellectuals who take them as facts, recycle and thrown them back to the general public.

    In other words, we have miserably failed to tolerate minor differences in each others’ views. So, simply because I wrote a brief piece on what I observed, and because this does not fit into your ideological straight-jacket, you call me a Woyane. No, I am not! Earlier, Tizibit remarked that, although I sounded like a reasonable person, then again everything I said was entirely instilled into me through propaganda by enemies of Ethiopia. Of course not! We really need to open up a bit and tolerate a difference in views among Ethiopians.

    We should not brand each other as “Ethiopia’s enemy” every time we come across someone who expressed a view somewhat different from ours. It is normal for brothers and sisters to have differences on family affairs but it is abnormal for one of them to dictate others how to express their love and respect for their mother. At society level, those that totally lack tolerance for views of others do commonly descend into anarchy, see Somalia. Forget the case of past historians, and think of our present history, it is evident that utter lack of tolerance among members have brought downfalls to highly promising political groups, that would have provided a solid foundation for removing Woyanes.

    Bonsa

  47. Dear Kiru

    Thank you so much for your information.
    We the Ethiopian community in Berlin Germany are curious to know
    what you will say on the sudden death of Prof Aleme Eshete.

    Derbi et al

  48. Dearly loved Prof. Aleme Eshete, you have done your part for your country. Ethiopia has lost a great Patriot. My condolence and sympathy to his family. God bless his Soul.

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