Imperial Heirlooms: The Private Memory of Colonialism in Germany

Abstract

Despite the brevity of the colonial period itself and major ruptures in German history since the colonial era, a remarkably resilient narrative of German colonialism has continued within the private sphere. In colonial families, the memory of colonialism has been passed down like a family heirloom, often literally in the form of colonial-themed artefacts, such as photographs and ethnographic items, but also through stories and anecdotes. Four generations have picked up these ‘artefacts’ and presented them according to their own frames of reference, interpretations and purposes, weaving them into a multi-layered ‘family archive’. As historians continue to uncover new aspects of German colonial history, it is important to recognise both the private and the material dimensions of German colonial memory as valuable sources.

Notes

1 See, for example, Buettner, Empire Families, esp. 22-33; Blunt and Dowling, Home; see also Howe, ‘When (If Ever) Did Empire End?’; as well as current research by Jo Duffy on white settlers in British Africa at the end of empire.

2 Erll, Kollektives Gedächtnis und Erinnerungskulturen, 8.

3 The term ‘amnesia’ has been used by Reinhart Kößler and others to describe the current state of awareness of colonialism in Germany. Kößler, ‘Kolonialherrschaft—auch eine deutsche Vergangenheit’, 33. Wildenthal also refers to a ‘repudiation or amnesia’ of imperial ambitions after 1945 in her essay, ‘Notes on a History of “Imperial Turns”’.

4 Mannheim, ‘Das Problem der Generationen’.

5 Interview with Anneliese Gärtner, née Meyer, Bad Lauterberg, 14 Oct. 2007.

6 de Haas, Urwaldhaus und Steppenzelt, 152.

7 Berman, Enlightenment or Empire, 18.

8 Penny, Objects of Culture; Penny, ‘Bastian's Museum’.

9 Interview with A. Gärtner, Bad Lauterberg, 14 Oct. 2007.

10 Bundesarchiv Berlin (BAB) R8023/404, Bl. 24; see also Hildebrand, Vom Reich zum Weltreich, 402–08.

11 von Schirach, Die Hitlerjugend: Idee und Gestalt (Berlin, 1934), 160, as quoted in Hildebrand, Vom Reich zum Weltreich, 402–03.

12 Interview with A. Gärtner, Bad Lauterberg, 14 Oct. 2007.

13 Harvey, Women and the Nazi East; Wildenthal, German Women; Reagin, ‘German Brigadoon?’.

14 Interview with A. Gärtner, Bad Lauterberg, 14 Oct. 2007.

15 Bhabha, The Location of Culture, esp. 54–55.

16 For more on memories of Ostvertriebene families, see, e.g., Moeller, ‘Remembering the War’,; Moeller, ‘War Stories’; W. Benz, Die Vertreibung der deutschen; P. Ahonen, ‘Domestic Constraints on West German Ostpolitik’.

17 On photographs and family memory, see Sontag, On Photography; Edwards, ‘Photographs as Objects of Memory’; Hirsch, Family Photographs; Kuhn, Family Secrets.

18 Interview with Kurt-Albrecht and Karin von Kessel, Moers, 29 April 2007.

19 Bourdieu, Photography, 36, 83.

20 Interview with K.-A. and K. von Kessel. Kurt-Albrecht von Kessel is the nephew of Carola von Clausewitz, a Red Cross nurse who worked in the former German East Africa around the time of the First World War, and Elisabeth Möller (née von Kessel), an artist who emigrated to the former GSWA with assistance from the FDKG in 1927.

21 Interview with C.-H. and D. von Wissmann, Cologne, 27 April 2007.

22 H. von Wissmann, in Andreae, Die afrikanische Herausforderung, 25, 40.

23 Interview with O. von Lindequist, Berlin, 30 April 2007.

24 A. von Lindequist, ‘Geschichte der Familie Lindequist’ (1922), 46–47, given to the author by Olof von Lindequist during an interview, Berlin, 30 April 2007.

25 Interview with Ewald and Nikolaus von Puttkamer, Ulm, 3 May 2007.

26 M. Kingsley, Travels in West Africa, quoted in von Puttkamer, Gouverneursjahre in Kamerun, 61–62. Kingsley is further quoted as saying: ‘I and those Englishmen who know him [J.v.P.] have no hesitation in saying this accusation is also unfounded … All the West Coast governors, what ever may be the nation they represent, are exceedingly good society. The Governor of Cameroon I consider the best; he is the most experienced for one thing’; cf. Stoecker, ‘The Conquest of the Colonies’, 79–80.

27 ‘General Lothar von Trotha hatte einen Vogel’, correspondence from the Trotha family archive, given to the author by Clamor von Trotha in an interview, Hamburg, 28 April 2007.

28 Heimlich, ‘Köln und der “Platz an der Sonne”’.

29 See, e.g., Sunseri, ‘Statist Narratives and Maji Maji Ellipses’; Monson, ‘Relocating Maji Maji’,; Hassing, ‘German Missionaries and the Maji Maji Rising’; Iliffe, ‘The Organization of the Maji Maji Rebellion’.

30 Interview with C.-H. and D. von Wissmann, Cologne, 27 April 2007.

31 Letter to the editor of the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger by C.-H. von Wissmann given to the author in an interview.

32 Interview with C.-H. and D. von Wissmann, Cologne, 27 April 2007.

33 Andreae, Die afrikanische Herausforderung, 50–51, 72.

34 Zimmerer, ‘Krieg, KZ und Völkermord in Südwestafrika’, 49.

35 Zimmerer, ‘Holocaust und Kolonialismus’, 1113.

36 Gründer, Geschichte der deutschen Kolonien, 122; van Laak, Über alles in der Welt, 85; Speitkamp, Deutsche Kolonialgeschichte, 126.

37 ‘Ein Bollwerk der Demokratie’, 43.

38 Olusoga and Erichsen, The Kaiser's Holocaust.

39 Wieczorek-Zeul, ‘Rede von Bundesministerin Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul anlässlich des 100’.

40 Interview with C. von Trotha, Hamburg, 28 April 2007.

41 Ibid.

42 Ibid.

43 Interview with Karin von Trotha, Hamburg, 28 April 2007.

44 Ibid.

45 Ibid.

46 Interview with Laetitia von Trotha, Hamburg, 28 April 2007.

47 Interview with Karin von Trotha, Hamburg, 28 April 2007.

48 Taken from ‘Die Reise nach Namibia des Familienverbandes v. Trotha vom 1.10.–16.10.2007’, unpublished manuscript given to the author by Clamor von Trotha.

49 Tjatindi, ‘Von Trotha Clan Arrives’.

50 Weidlich, ‘Von Trotha Issue Heats Up Debate’.

51 Kerber, ‘Kolonialgeschichte in deutschen Schulbüchern’, 92.