New Trends and Issues

At the Nuremburg trials Hermann Goring, a leading member of the Nazi party, made reference to influences in his early childhood. The son of Dr. Heinrich Goring who in 1885 had been appointed by Bismarck to establish the German colony of South-West Africa, he was influenced by his father’s certainty that what Hitler later called the "colonial peoples” were destined to fall prey to the stronger nations; those who refused to accept their subservient status would cease to exist. Goring connected the Third Reich atrocities of which he stood accused, and the pre-WWI excesses of Germany as well as of the colonial powers who now accused him. Goring’s claims were not taken seriously by the Nuremberg court. Yet subsequent research suggests that the connection he put forward is valid; pre-WWI images determined the philosophies and policies of all European nations. As past injustices shape the present, so images which enter the collective unconscious endure until identified and de-constructed. This paper seeks to identify, translate and linguistically deconstruct some dominant images apparent in works originating in the former German East Africa. How do images present in literary and political documents such as Deutsch-Ostafrika. Wirtschaftliche Studien (1906) by Hermann Paasche, Vice-Chancellor of Kaiser Wilhelm’s Reichstag, reflect Western understandings of Africa? What is the significance of these images when subjected to Afrocentric understandings of history?


Introduction
The identities of Germans as well as of the peoples of what is today Eastern Africa were to a large extent defined by conflicts which accompanied their first encounters with one another.Their ability to determine and maintain their respective operational freedom within the Eastern African environment, who they were and how they saw themselves, was crucially important in their definition of the self and of the "Other."

The Abushiri Revolt: 1888 -1890
On 8 April 1885 the Sultan of Witu (today part of Kenya), ceded twenty-five square miles of territory to the German Denhardt brothers.The area was to be a German protectorate and a haven for those fleeing the Zanzibar slave trade which was run by members of the Omani dynasty.Through various treaties the German East Africa Trading Company (DOAG: Deutsch Ostafrikanische Gesellschaft under the leadership of Dr. Karl Peters) had secured control over a number of towns and trading posts along the Indian Ocean.The Arab traders who had till then controlled these very lucrative trade routes into the African interior resented this encroachment of their territory.On 20 September 1888, under the leadership of Abushiri ibn Salim al-Harthi, Arab traders united with local native tribes to regain dominance over the German-controlled territories.The conflict continued until December 1889 when the Germans finally hanged Abushiri who had been turned over to them (Siggurdsson, 2013).On 1 July 1890 the German Chancellor Leo Von Caprivi signed the "Vertrag zwischen Deutschland und England uber die Kolonien und Helgoland."Here Germany acknowledged the protectorate of England over Zanzibar and Pemba -islands Germany had never possessed -and gave up its claim to Wituland.

The Wahehe War: 1891 -1898
Meanwhile, in German East Africa another conflict told in various versions was brewing.One of the stories related by the elders of the Wahehe tribe is that around 1890 one of the seers of the people who later became known as the Wahehe had a dream that foreigners who looked different from them were about to invade.Sultan Mkwawa had several seers who watched the potions in their pots change from grey to red.It is not clear whether the color red refers to the skin of the Europeans, or whether potions always changed in that way when there was the threat of an invasion.The seers' information caused Chief Mkwawa to send spies along the Tanga region coast where he had close connections with the Arabs there -many of whom had also made treaties with the Germans.Convinced the dreamers spoke the truth Mkwawa prepared for war.Thus, when on 17 August 1891 the German Schutztruppe under the command of Emil von Zelewski attacked Lugalo in what is today southern Tanzania three thousand Hehe Warriors under the leadership of Chief Mkwawa, chanting their war cry "Hee Twahumite, Hee Twahumite!He, he, he, heeeeee" (Hey, we have come out!Hey, hey, hey, hey!) (Siggurdsson, 2013) vanquished the Germans who believing they were invincible, had taken almost no precautions.The loss on the German side was great and Zelewski too was killed.And from their war cry the tribe which attacked got its name: the Hehe.It was only on 30 th October 1894 with the destruction of the Hehe fort at Kalenga that the power of the Hehe was brought under control by the Germans.And it was not until 19 th June 1898 that the Germans came upon the supposed body of the dead Chief / Sultan Mkwawa who had apparently committed suicide so as to escape being arrested.Not believing he was really dead they shot him through the head which they then removed and sent to Germany where it was housed in the Ubersee Museum in Bremen.After World War I a condition of the Treaty of Versailles was that the skull should be returned to Tanzania.On 9 July 1954 the then British governor returned it.It had been identified from amongst a collection of 2,000 skulls, 84 of which apparently came from East Africa.
Another version of the story -in the Oral Tradition -is that Sultan Mkwawa shot his bodyguard and himself jumped into the river and escaped.As members of the German Schutztruppe had never actually seen Makwawa before they removed the head of the already dead person found in Kalenga, either story is credible.The mystery of Mkwawa's end is compounded by the fact that no DNA test has ever been done to positively identify the skull housed today in the Mkwawa Memorial Museum at Kalenga near Iringa.And so, even other possibilities emerge.When interviewed by Rev. Renatus Payovela OCD, Zuber Waitala, the custodian of the Mkwawa museum claims it was Mkwawa's mother who jumped into the water close to the Kikongoma water fall and drowned.She had wanted to keep from tribal enemy hands the war potion she had made to make those fighting in her son's army brave and strong.Saying the potion was hidden near the water's edge she had pretended to get it and had jumped into the water to escape.Interestingly, during the Maji Maji war nearly ten years later the Wahehe provided troops to support the Germans (Siggurdsson, 2013).

Maji Maji: 1905 -1907
The Maji Maji War, one of the most significant in Eastern Africa, affected nearly half the German colony.Initially much of the resistance was fueled by a healer from the Matumbi Mountains who under the apparent possession of one of the region's major spirits distributed medicine that would turn German bullets to water -i.e. to maji (Juan, 2015).The rebellion was crushed within two years with the majority of the dead amongst the rebels and noncombatants.Many died from the famine caused by a scorched-earth policy and by deliberately induced hunger.
There is much debate concerning the reason for the Maji Maji rebellion.One cause is seen in German oppression and the resultant anger of the general population which led to a liberation war.Another is seen in the unifying religious-ideological role played by the seer who proclaimed that German bullets would turn to water (Iliffe, 1967).Some claim that interethnic conflict contributed to the people of the region challenging the Germans.A more recent theory focuses on the role played by the extraction of resources which De Juan (2015) defines as "all activities undertaken by the state in order to generate revenues within the boundaries of its territory -namely, those activities related to taxes, forced labor, natural resources or agricultural production".De Juan argues that extraction generally only leads to violence when the activities threaten the "local nonstate elites of their preexisting extractive capacities" and these elites then mobilize the population.
Today, more than a hundred years after the Maji Maji conflict, the voices of actors in events which shaped the identities of peoples on different continents can still be heard in writings they left behind.These writings help tell history's untold stories.They speak of how they saw themselves and of how they perceived others, and of how these perceptions shaped their world.One such actor on the German-Tanganyika stage was Dr. Hermann Paasche, Vice President of the German Reichstag (1903-1909; 1912-1918) and vice president of the German Kolonialgesellschaft (1906-1907; 1913-1922).The significance of his personal entry into a very volatile colony approximately at the midpoint of the war cannot be underestimated.Yet the title of his book "Deutsch-Ostafrika.Wirtschaftliche Studien" (1906) proclaims that the conflict itself is not his main concern.In this paper his recounting of his excursion into the Rufiji Delta to visit his son Hans Paasche who was leading the German troops in the battle against the Maji Maji warriors is examined.

Germany's Vice President and The East African Colonies
The title of Hermann Paasche's (1906) book makes the purpose for his visit to German East Africa very clear.His interest is about economics and commerce, and not much else.In the very first sentence he speaks of the colonies being the "Schmerzenskinder" of the German Reichstag.The Reichstag is thus the mother giving birth in pain.Or alternately the mother of problem children.The language used to describe the relationship between the "mother" country and the colony is of a religious nature.He reports that for many this relationship is characterized as a Leidensgeschichte -a "tale of woe," something that from the terminology can even be compared to the passion of Christ.This passion narrative is one which for many involves the sacrifice of "property and blood," of "goods and persons" (Leidensgeschichte voller Opfer an Gut und Blut) which he feels should eventually bring "rich blessings" (reichen Segen).The nature of these blessings is, as we shall see, anything but religious.
He confirms that Dr. Karl Peters and others have given the assurance that this, Germany's largest colony in eastern Africa, cannot be compared to the hopeless deserts (hoffnungslose Wusten) most people associate with Africa.In language reminiscent of a parent longing for a lost child he says he knows that one day these problem children will bring joy to their Begrunder -i.e.their founder, originator, father.In German Begrunder refers alike to the founder of a business and the establishment of a family.These "children" will one day produce appropriate financial profit.Paasche thus does not question the legality of the peace treaties Karl Peters concluded with indigenous chiefs from whom he took land in return for non-existent German protection.He claims all sacrifices made by German taxpayers in building the colonies is justified if one takes as an example other, older, colonizing countries (alte Kolonialvolker) such as England, Holland and France.Economic profit is the means whereby the colonial "child" can bring joy to the "mother" and "founding father."Hermann Paasche outlines his vision for German East Africa as he undertakes his fact-finding journey to look closely at the "economic culture" growing on "Germany's own German-African soil" (auf unserem eigenen deutschafrikanischen Boden).He seeks to determine what can be gained from this possession (was aus dem dortigen Besitz gewonnen werden konne).He wants to get to know the country and the people (Land und Leute), but makes it quite clear that this refers only to those involved in the German cultural work activities (Deutsche Kulturarbeit) he wishes to assess.In "Kulturarbeit" the emphasis is on "Arbeit" -i.e.achievements attained by Germans working in the colonies, creating an extension of the German homeland, building an environment which reflects German industry and know-how.Work is seen as a cultural attribute of German character.And so, his reference to Germans he encounters on his journey is never by name but always reflects designations within the German civil service: Bezirksamtmann; Geheimrat; Wirtschafts-inspektor der Kommune -in this case an agriculturalist trained in the colonial school in Witzenhausen.
Cold hard economics alone determine recommendations and decisions he, the Vice President of both the German Reichstag and of the German Kolonialgesellschaft will make.Colonies are of value only when they are a useful complement (brauchbare Erganzung) to the economy of the "mother country" (Mutterland).There is no awareness in his writings of the irony inherent in his use of "mother country" or "country of origin" (Heimatland) which totally ignores the presence of African people who would presumably want to cultivate their land for the benefit of their own home-and motherland.The language portrays a remarkable reversal of roles.The "child" -i.e. the colony -is to provide for the mother by absorbing that country's excess produce (Uberschuss an Erzeugnissen) and by delivering raw materials or luxury foods (Genussmittel) to Germany.Described here as the "country of origin" (Heimatland), it is a country the majority of people residing in German East Africa will never see.In modern terminology Genussmittel includes cigarettes and alcohol, one of the meanings that word had even then.Thus, when Paasche reaches Mohoro he does inspect experimental tobacco cultivations ,yet the latter have not yet become important.At that time Genussmittel would thus probably have referred to Kolonialwaren, exotic products from the colonies -coffee, cocoa, tropical fruit.An acquired taste, they are now becoming increasingly indispensable (immer unentbehrlicher).This was the "blessing" Hermann Paasche envisioned as the outcome of Germany's birth-giving passion narrative.
Further, the colonies are to offer many thousands of "Landeskindern" a new home.During his excursion to the Rufiji Delta he already identifies one area where many could be permanently settled .Landeskinder, translated literally, refers to the children of a country.Here it does not however, refer to East Africa's indigenous population, but to Germans people who will emigrate from their overpopulated industrialized country.East Africa's indigenous population disappears from all economic calculations.The wellbeing of the real "children" of Tanganyika is not up for discussion.The "children" of Germany become the benefactors of land stolen by Karl Peters from the legitimate owners and from Arab traders who had colonized the region.

The Rufiji Delta
Once Hermann Paasche prepares to enter the Rufiji Delta, the area where his son is leading the German marines sent as backup to the small Schutztruppe Germany stationed in her colonies, one would expect him to speak more about the political implications of the Maji Maji war.Yet he calls the conflict no more than an "Aufstand" -a rebellion.He states categorically that the causes of the conflict and the means of dealing with unrest can have no part in his economic analysis.As he prepares for his "safari" (p.124) along the Rufiji Delta he speaks of the beautiful weather and of the fact that his son has sent him six askaris to protect him against enemy gangs (Streifkolonnen).When he first arrived in Mahoro and joined the whites "united" behind the protective barbed wire of the war camp (Kriegslager), he mentions, almost as an aside, the titillating sense of danger and battle joy (jenes eigenartig bange und doch kampfesfrohe Gefuhl)and then continues to describe the roaring of a lion approaching the cattle herds near the camp.Later, on the other side of the Rufiji, when he meets his son, the reader is told of the German army, consisting of a small group of navy officers and about thirty askaris, killing hundreds of black people.His son alone had killed more than thirty.He does not however go into any detail regarding what he hears and observes.
He speaks of his longing to see his son who is fighting in the wilderness (Wildnis) against those he first calls rebels (Aufstandigen) and then savages (die Wilden) [p.125:12].He speculates that these clashes will continue in the months to come.All these designations of the Maji Maji warriors occur within one paragraph.The wordplay on Wildnis and die Wilden is in sharp contrast to the word he uses to describe German rule (Herrschaft) evidence of which he sees in a two-meter-wide rudimentary road constructed above the narrow pathway made by the local people (Negerpfad) [p.125:22] who traditionally walk along such paths in single file.German dominance is evident both in the words and in the actions described: "Herr-schaft" has connotations of lord-ship evidenced by the fact that the new road is built on top of the old one.The irony is that that it could not be used because the workers making it had piled the construction rubble on to it and Paasche's expedition has to create a new footpath parallel to the superior German one, and resembling the original.At a later stage he refers to German East Africa's indigenous people as Neger (not quite as negative a designation as "nigger"), or as a strange nature people (eigenartige[s] Naturvolk in whose company he is surrounded by "glorious nature." At Kipei the citizens of the village, dressed in "long white shirts," come to greet him, the father of their respected and feared lieutenant (his son) and the representative of the German Kaiser.Paasche comments condescendingly that they do not understand who he as Vice President of the German Reichstag really is, but see him as a special German Paramount Chief who occupies the "big chair" in the people's assembly.Just like other members of the indigenous population he meets, these have no culture that could be explored, are close to noble savages, and honor superior European (German) culture.
He further comments on the efficiency of the small bore repeating rifles with which giant crocodiles are as easily dispatched as the hundreds of black people who had attacked the German Schutztruppe (p.147:5ff).Even the Maji-Maji warrior who was the cause of the only German casualty in the battle is portrayed as being stupid enough to openly celebrate his lucky shot and so put himself in the line of fire of Hans Paasche's bullet.Hermann Paasche does not mention that the guns being used were probably made by the "Rheinische Metallwaaren-und Maschinenfabrik Aktiengesellschaft" which later became Rheinmetall, till today one of the world's largest weapons manufacturing companies, with which he was closely allied.Even as he relates how deeply he is moved when he looks at the place where the African earth "drank" the blood of the dead German marine sent in under his son's command to support the Schutztruppe, he notes that the surrounding rock landscape is ideal for the later extraction of building materials.At no point does he try to get to know the indigenous people he meets, or what their customs are.Even when he believes they are in enemy territory (im Feindesland) he focuses solely on the economic viability of the terrain they are traversing.

The economic viability of the land
Paasche reports that the soil of the land through which they travel is deep and fruitful.This perception is confirmed once he crosses the Rufiji River where the fertility (Zeugungskraft des Bodens: the soil's generational ability) of the area is evident in the red-black soil.He knows the abundance of grass is something every German farmer would envy.He is convinced the area could accommodate many thousands of grazing animals.The few swampy areas where the ground seems to be covered with acidic humus do not detract from his enthusiasm.The bananas and pineapples growing alongside cotton plantations and an Arab farmer's well-cared-for sugar fields reassure him that the already worthwhile work of the indigenous people can be profitably exploited through the application of German ingenuity so as to supply world markets once the Government -in Germany -encourages its financial inspectors (Wirtschaftsinspektoren) to intervene and appropriately guide and support the indigenous population.This he feels will be necessary as at present the indigenous people's chief occupation was to sit in front of their huts and dream the day away.Yet behind the huts and the small area they had cultivated were large expanses of savannah with grass two to three meters high and deciduous forest which could be developed.He insists that Germans must identify the types of grains appropriate to the rich alluvial soil and to the tropical conditions of the Rufiji Delta.Cotton fields with plants as tall as a person, bearing an especially fine cotton variety, convince him that cotton will be East Africa's primary cultivated crop.The meter-long rice-straw bundles left over from the last harvest furthermore raise the hope that here will be a source for feeding the German people who will no longer have to import rice.He sees the flooded plains of the Rufiji and the southern slopes of the Uhehe Mountains where Indians, the ultimate experts on rice, had developed their fields as the starting point for European cultivation of East Africa's fertile prairie land both for local as well as for world markets.Paasche envisions a time in the very near future when European technology will transform the myriad small farms (shambas) growing cotton into large plantations capable of exporting the amounts necessary to attract large investors who would then relieve German taxpayers of the financial burden of the colonies.
In Mohoro he judges that the successful training of black ploughmen confronted with newly trained oxen and German tillage equipment (Ackergerate) they had never seen before is evidence of the value of German colonial development.He plans to expand the plantations into the Rufiji valley (p.135:29ff.)and so curb indigenous people's natural instinct for gregariousness (Geselligkeitstrieb) (p.135:24) which he feels interferes with European productivity standards where individuals take responsibility for their own work.When on the other side of the Rufiji strong black people (kraftige Neger) have to carry him and his companions across a swampy area, he knows that it will be important for the German administration to build bridges to allow for more traffic.Here in the Rufiji Delta the prairie soil should primarily serve the cultivation of major European agricultural crops.As far as he is concerned indigenous crops might have their place once the people have been roused from their "natural sloth" (naturliche Tragheit) and German government officials have taught them to cultivate indigenous crops of equal value to the European ones and produce more than is needed for personal consumption.He however believes East Africa is not yet ready to go this way as the Arab slave trade has decimated the coastal population and the people of mixed race (Mischlingsrassen) come from a Swahili background where the population is accustomed to being served by slaves.This does not incline them to work.Consequently, despite the animal-like strength of the people (kraftige Neger) who live largely by instinct (Trieb in Geselligkeitstrieb characterizes people's interaction on a purely animal-like level), German East Africa will for the foreseeable future have to depend on German settlers.
The references to German industriousness and diligence (Fleiss) are obvious.The implication is that once German efficiency and industriousness take over and the "chatter and singing" (Schwatzen und Singen) [p.135:26] which characterize the work of the indigenous people is curbed; this part of German East Africa will be of tremendous economic advantage to Germany.In later years after World War II the industriousness of the Germans Paasche refers to would lead to the Wirtschaftswunder which characterized Germany throughout the second half of the twentieth century.Here it speaks of intolerance towards those from other countries who do not share these characteristics and whose manner of working is not based on European individualism.This intolerance is apparent throughout when Hermann Paasche speaks of indigenous people's "natural inertia" (naturlichen Tragheit der Eingeborenen from which they must be aroused; as well as when he is certain that the "Boy" who serves him is dishonest because it is possible that the twenty Pfennig he gave him to buy a local chicken were too much as the chicken did not in fact cost as much.
Yet, by his own account, he and his entourage were received peacefully and with unforced hospitality.He speaks of the people sitting in front of their huts curiously watching him and his entourage pass, or greeting him with a friendly "Jambo Bwana".When the noonday sun becomes too much for him, they make an impromptu stop at a village and are given water and the juice of young coconuts and treated with a great deal of hospitality.And he depends on indigenous people to carry him across the Rufiji River.None of these encounters speak of the fighting going on not far away, and because of which his son has sent six askaris to protect him.The small number of soldiers sent for the protection of such an important member of the German Reichstag itself suggests that the fighting is not to be taken all that seriously.The importance history has accorded to the Maji Maji conflict and the large number of Africans killed seems to belie the account given here.

Close to the scene of the conflict
The text's economic assessment is interrupted as Germany's Vice President nears the area where the fighting is taking place and meets his son.Despite torn clothes and tired sore feet his son looks healthy and well (zerfetzten Kleidern und wundgelaufenen Fußen).He speaks of the relatively small number of officers from the German merchant navy and about thirty askaris engaged in securing the Rufiji route against thousands of Shenzis -uncivilized African tribesmen.Paasche's use of the word Shenzi is interesting.In the course of his travels into German East Africa he has spoken about how the "Boys" in his entourage have taken care of him and that his own personal "Boy" is not exactly a model servant.He has also reported that his son's personal "Boy" speaks perfect German.What then makes those who fight German colonial occupation Shenzis?How are they different from the villagers who come to Nyamwiki where the German war camp has been situated (p.150)?Here they honor him, and are admonished to remain faithful to the German Kaiser whose representative they see before them.What makes the Shenzis he says are fighting the Schutztruppe different from the villagers who remain faithful to the Germans and whose village is consequently destroyed (p.148)?He does not elaborate.Paasche's economic interests do not allow him to distinguish between the different ethnicities.While Alexander De Juan (2015) points to the expansion and extractive policies of a Germany determined to supply the world market with harvests from German East Africa, Paasche does not question the origin of the war beyond saying that it is the result of the actions of uncivilized tribes who live in a land that needs to be "pacified" (um das Land zu beruhigen).
The reality of the war-driven colonization process becomes palpable when black people who had surrendered, present evidence that after surrendering they paid the three Rupee penalty.They are given permission to rebuild their huts and bring back their wives and children.When however, they ask the Bwana Kubwa -i.e. the "big boss," in this case a direct reference to Paasche as being the representative of the German Kaiser -for food and for seed for their fields they are met with harsh rebuttal: "You yourselves have destroyed the huts and food supplies… if you want food, come to the Boma and work for it".No mercy is shown to those who Paasche spoke of as having to be "pacified" by the troops under his son's command and who for this purpose organized forays into the surrounding area.By his own admission Paasche sees the people standing before him as being obviously in need (p.150:3).Yet he argues that showing mercy would encourage people first to rebel, and then to surrender in order to be given assistance.The cynicism apparent in this argument is overwhelming.It is one which persists into the present day when "aid" organizations rebuild territories deliberately destroyed during resource wars.When he returns to Mohoro Paasche takes further expansion, Germany needs to use her unique ingenuity in her colonies to contribute to world markets (p.4 et al).Those Africans who oppose his vision because their own economic integrity is threatened are summarily dismissed as being Shenzis -uncivilized African tribesmen.He makes no mention of the fact that these Shenzis were in fact extremely well organized across ethnic divides and successfully used underground cave systems to assist them in their resistance (Climate change … 2010).This picture of Africa continues to the present when African conflicts are still understood primarily under the rubric of tribalism, and Shenzi has become a female hyena character in Disney's Lion King.Her name means "savage" or "uncouth" or "of poor quality" in Swahili.She becomes an example of Hollywood's trivialization of African history.Hermann Paasche's analysis of the economic viability of the land surrounding the Rufiji Delta clearly outlines the capitalist economic model that took over the Western world and has since dominated world financial markets.It was a monolithic system that would be imposed at the expense of all indigenous traditions and understandings of humanity.In the name of growth and profit whole societies would be wiped out.Germans were not alone in this endeavor.As Hermann Paasche points out, Germany came late into the colonial capitalist process.Yet his son Hans Paasche later married the daughter of Richard Witting, the Director of the National Bank of Germany, and he himself was closely allied to the company that later became Rheinmetall.And so in Germany too the stage was set with regard to a military-industrial complex financed by a global banking system that has little compassion on those who envisage other ways of living -as for example those Paasche encountered on his "safari" did.
More recently Olusoga and Erichsen (2010) have explored the connections between German colonialism in German South West Africa (today Namibia) and Nazism.They point out that Hermann Goering himself connected his own later development to his father's appointment as the first Governor of German South-West Africa.Like Karl Peters in German East Africa Heinrich Goering had concluded "protection treaties" with African leaders in German South West Africa and had thus gotten them to sign away the rights to their land.The extermination of those who did not sign was a foregone conclusion.Olusoga and Erichsen argue that the genocide of the peoples of South West Africa is mirrored in the Nazi Holocaust.SS officer Hermann Goering, a colonial imperialist like his father, claimed Germany's pre-World War I colonialism had formed him and his generation (p.5) and was based on belief in the tenets of Social Darwinism that the "weaker peoples of the earth were destined to fall prey to the stronger".In pointing to the connection his father had "with two British statesmen, Cecil Rhodes and the elder Chamberlain", Goering placed the Nazi Holocaust within the European colonial context.
Hitler's Lebensraum policy does not differ much from the one propounded by Hermann Paasche before World War I that the colonies should provide a place to which Germans could relocate and not only create a home for themselves, but benefit their mother country.In both cases German territorial expansion at the expense of "lower races" was a given.Hitler was supported in his Lebensraum ideology by Franz Ritter von Epp, a former lieutenant in German South West Africa and active in the Herero and Namaqua genocide.A friend of Hermann Goering, Von Epp was one of several members of the former German Schutztruppe who became leading figures in the early Nazi Party.In German East Africa a similar dynamic played itself out.While Germany's defeat is to this day a source of pride and self-definition for members of the Wahehe tribe, it was also a source of personal humiliation for the German people and in particular for the Zelewski family.The biographer of Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, a nephew of the slain commander at Lugalo, speculates that "his uncle's death at the hands of 'inferior' Africans" engendered great shame in the family.Consequently, it determined the extent of the atrocities he committed in his capacity as a Nazi SS general in WW II during his anti-partisan activities against Russians and in the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising in 1944 (Siggurdsson 2013: Footnote #4).
More recently terminology utilized by Hermann Paasche to characterize his and Germany's perception of German colonial possessions has returned to popular use.Thus during the financial crises of the early 21 st century Sorgenkinder -problem children -was used in reference to the relationship between the European Union and Greece, Portugal and Spain in the attempts to politically integrate member states with differing financial stability; to keep together those who needed bailouts and those who provided them (swisspartners April 4/10).It should also be noted that the perception of Africa being a continent dominated by hunger and starvation, a continent of "hopeless deserts" (hoffnungslose Wusten) that Hermann Paasche speaks of has remained.Similarly, whereas the colonies once produced for the benefit of the "mother" country in Europe, today African countries produce largely for the benefit of foreign investors.
If one listens carefully one becomes aware of colonial stories and concepts still prevalent both in the Oral tradition of Eastern Africa and in European discourse.They are not unique to Germany.They still create world perceptions.Exploring the context which gave rise to these perceptions of social structures and of interactive representations of reality provides vital clues to how people see themselves and others and why they structure the world as they do.Thus for example, Hermann Paasche makes no secret of the fact that he regards the indigenous people of German East Africa as expendable.The terminology he uses is very different from that utilized in the 1940s by the British Colonial Office in the Film Men of Africa which speaks of Britain's "Dependencies in every continent and every ocean" for whose well-being "the People of Britain" are directly responsible.But the attitude of paternalistic colonial imperialism which masks ruthless exploitation is the same.Today these concepts are carried over into the discourse on the relationship between "developed" and "emerging" economies.They form the basis of the struggle between local communities and multinational corporations.Examining the import of the reality they portray will in the years to come be one of the keys to the survival of the human race.