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A Historiography of German Togoland, or The Rise and Fall of a “Model Colony”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 May 2014

Dennis Laumann
Dennis Laumann*
Affiliation:
University of Memphis
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Extract

The literature on German Togoland, as compared with that of most of the other former European colonies on the African continent, is far from extensive. While the colony was relatively small and short-lived, the dearth of academic work is notable, since Togoland not only was prized by the Germans as their most successful colonial venture but was also viewed as a “model colony” by contemporary observers in other European imperial nations.

Only a handful of books devoted exclusively to the colony have been published since the emergence of African history in the late 1950s as an academic field in the West. The authors of these books, as well as a number of articles and dissertations, thoroughly consulted the relevant archival materials housed in Europe and North America and, to a lesser extent, in West Africa, but failed to collect the oral history of the period. Thus these studies tend to be based almost solely on the observations of Europeans and focus on the activities of the German imperialists, in particular on their administrative and economic policies. A few scholars have attempted to emphasize African experiences during this historical episode, despite a reliance on those same archival materials.

The Togoland colony dates to February 1884, when a group of German soldiers kidnapped chiefs in Anécho, a town located in present-day southeastern Togo, and forced them into negotiations aboard the German warship Sophie. Further west, a protectorate was proclaimed over the Lomé area in a treaty signed in July by Gustav Nachtigal, a German Imperial Commissioner, and one Plakkoo, an official of the town of Togo, after which the new colony was named by the Germans.

Type
Research Article
Information
History in Africa , Volume 30 , 2003 , pp. 195 - 211
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2003

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References

1 I use the term “German Togoland” here to differentiate the colony from the later British and French mandates and trusteeships. “British Togoland” today comprises most of the Volta Region of Ghana, while “French Togoland” is the present-day nation of Togo. Hereafter I will refer to the German colony simply as “Togoland” and to the collective group of Africans who lived under German occupation as “Togolanders” in contrast to the “Togolese” of independent Togo.

2 Calvert, Albert F., Togoland (London, 1918), xiiGoogle Scholar. Calvert's writings will be discussed below.

3 From the 12 September 1914 issue as quoted in ibid., 83. The Gold Coast Leader was published in Cape Coast from 1902 to 1929 by the Ghanaian lawyer and politician J. E. Casely-Hayford. This newspaper often printed critiques of the German regime in Togoland, many written by Togolanders in Lomé. See several examples in the appendix entitled “Dokumente der antikolonial Bewegung” in Sebald, Peter, Togo 1884-1914: Einc Geschichte der deutschen “Muster-kolonie” auf der Grundlage amtlicher Quellen (Berlin, 1988), 649–86Google Scholar.

4 As quoted in Sebald, Peter, “Togo 1884-1900” in German Imperialism in Africa: From the Beginnings Until the Second World War, ed. Stoecker, Helmuth (London, 1986), 85Google Scholar. Besides Togoland, the “German Colonial Empire” in Africa constituted the Cameroons, German East Africa (which included the present-day nations of Burundi, Rwanda, and mainland Tanzania), and South-west Africa. The “worries” mentioned in this quotation may refer to the wars between the German imperialists and various African societies in the other colonies, the longest-lasting and most widespread of which was the “Maji-Maji” war in German East Africa from 1905 to 1907.

5 Zöller, Hugo, Das Togogebiet nnd die Sklavenküste, volume 3 of Die deutschen Besitzungen der westafrikanische Küste (Berlin, 1885)Google Scholar. See also Le Togo en 1884 selon Hugo Zöller, ed. Marguerat, Yves (Lomé, 1990)Google Scholar, a French translation of the above by K. Amegan and A. Ahadji of the Université du Bénin in Lomé.

6 See Klose, Heinrich, Togo unter deutscher Flagge (Berlin, 1899)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. The sections of this work describing areas of present-day Ghana have also been published as Klose's Journey to Northern Ghana, trans. Killick, Inge (Legon, 1964)Google Scholar. See also the French translation of Klose's account published in Togo: Le Togo sous drapeau Allemand (1894-1897) selon Heinrich Klose, trans. David, Philippe (Lomé, 1992)Google Scholar.

7 See also, among others, the following: Dier, Matthias, Unter den Schwarzen: Alles aus Togo über Land, Leute, Sitten und Gebräuche (Steyl, 1901)Google Scholar; and Henrici, Ernst, Das deutsche Togogebiet und meine Afrikareise 1887 (Leipzig, 1888)Google Scholar. The author was a planter based in Togoland who also negotiated the “treaty of protection” in Kpalimé. At the urging of the German regime, Henrici started a coffee plantation in Togoland, which ultimately failed in 1888; Külz, Ludwig, Blätter und Briefe eines Arizes aus dem tropischen Deutsch-Afrika (Berlin, 1906)Google Scholar. The author was a government medical doctor in Togoland; Trierenberg, Georg, Togo: Die Aufrichtung der deutschen Schutzherrschaft und die Erschliessung des Landes (Berlin, 1914)Google Scholar. Trierenberg was based in Togoland from 1909 to 1911; Vietor, J. K., Geschichte und kulturelle Entwicklung unserer Schutzgebiete (Berlin, 1913)Google Scholar. Vietor, was a Bremen-based merchant with extensive business interests in Togoland. Additionally, several German administrators, including Hans Gruner, the district officer in Misahöhe for most of the German occupation, published articles in German colonial publications. For example, see articles in Amtsblatt für das Schntzgebiet Togo, which was published by the German regime in Lomé from 1906 to 1914 and is housed at the Staasbibliothek zu Berlin–Preussischer Kulturbesitz.

8 A latecomer into the European “scramble for Africa,” Germany did not pursue an aggressive colonial policy under the leadership of Otto von Bismarck until the mid-1880s. Among the pro-colonial groups in Germany which emerged during this period was the German Colonial Association, founded in 1882, which was mostly dominated by merchants who had economic interests along the coasts of Africa. Increasingly, both liberal and conservative newspapers in Germany articulated imperialist positions and two of the largest political parties, the National Liberals and the Free Conservatives, voted for procolonial legislation. Only the Social Democrats maintained a strictly anti-colonial position in the debates in the Reichstag.

9 L. H. Gann and Peter Duignan argue that “Germany's colonial prestige began to rise rapidly in Europe just prior to World War I—an ascent reflected in numerous unsolicited testimonials furnished by contemporary British observers, including convinced imperialists like Sir Harry Johnson and critics of colonial abuse like H. R. Fox Bourne and E. D. Morel” Gann, L. H. and Duignan, Peter, The Rulers of German Africa 1884-1914 (Stanford, 1977), 223–24Google Scholar.

10 See, for example, Calvert, Albert F.: Nigeria and its Tin Fields (London, 1910)CrossRefGoogle Scholar and idem., Mineral Resources of Minus Geraes (Brazil) (London, 1915).

11 Ironically, Calvert referred to the German rule of South-West Africa as an “occupation.” See Calvert, Albert F., South-West Africa During the German Occupation, 1884-1914 (London, 1915)Google Scholar.

12 Calvert, Albert F., The German African Empire (London, 1916), xxiGoogle Scholar.

13 Ibid., 215.

14 Ibid., 276.

15 Evans Lewin, as quoted in Townsend, Mary Evelyn, The Rise and Fall of Germany's Colonial Empire 1884-1914 (New York, 1930), 375Google Scholar. See Lewin, Evans, The Germans and Africa: Their Aims on the Dark Continent and How They Acquired Their African Colonies (London, 1915)Google Scholar.

16 Townsend, , Rise and Fall, 374Google Scholar.

17 Schnee served as Governor of German East Africa from 1912 to 1916, and had previously held top positions in the German regimes in German New Guinea and Samoa in the South Pacific.

18 Schnee, Heinrich, German Colonization Past and Future: The Truth About the German Colonies (New York, 1921), 32Google Scholar.

19 Ibid., 169.

20 Ibid., 170. For another German critique of British rule in the mandated territories, see Karlowa, Rudolf, Englische Mandatsverwaltung in Afrika (Berlin, 1940)Google Scholar.

21 Diel, Louise, Die Kolonien warten! (Leipzig, 1939)Google Scholar. The preface to Diel's book was written by Heinrich Schnee. The titles of most of these works were far from subtle. See, for example, Dinglreiter, Genta, Wann kommen die Deutschen endlich wieder?: Eine Reise durch unsere Kolonien in Afrika (Leipzig, 1935)Google Scholar. The German title of this book translates as “When are the Germans finally returning? A trip through our colonies in Africa.” See also Leutwein, Paul, Das deutsche Afrika und seine Zukunft (Berlin, 1937)Google Scholar, another tract advocating the “return” of their former colonies to the German Reich.

22 Schnee, , German Colonization, 170Google Scholar.

23 Metzger, O. F., Unsere alte Kolonie Togo (Neudamm, 1941)Google Scholar.

24 Metzger argued for the creation of forest preserves in the colony and led several forestation projects.

25 See Full, August, Fünfzig Jahre Togo (Berlin, 1935)Google Scholar. Füll served as an Amtsvorsteher or “head official,” serving under the Governor; and Küas, Richard, Togo-Erinnerungen (Berlin, 1939)Google Scholar. Küas was a customs official and Amtsvorsteher.

26 Steer, G. L., Judgement on German Africa (London, 1939)Google Scholar. Steer concluded, in the words of one his book's section titles, that “mandates work,” arguing in favor of the continuation of British and French mandated rule in the former German colonies.

27 Townsend, Rise and Fall.

28 Ibid., 273. The author's contention here is not entirely valid. While no large-scale wars between the Germans and Togolanders, or between the Germans and Africans in the other German colonies occurcd during the period she discussed, “uprisings” in other forms continued until the end of the German occupation.

29 Ibid., 277, 279.

30 Ibid., 287.

31 Schramm, Josef, Togo (Bonn, 1959)Google Scholar.

32 Wülker, Gabriele, “‘Musterkolonie’ an Afrikas Wesrküste: Togo unter deutscher Kolonialverwaltung” in Hundert Jahre Afrika und die Deutschen, edited by Höpker, Wolfgang (Pfullingen, 1984), 43Google Scholar. Wülker served as Federal Secretary for the Family and Children from 1957 to 1959 and was a professor of developmental studies.

33 See, for example, Graudenz, Karlheinz, Deutsche Kolonialgeschichte in Daten and Bildern (München, 1984)Google Scholar.

34 These included, among others, works on trade, education, and missionary societies. See Adick, Christel, Bildung und Kolonialismus in Togo (Weinheim, 1981)Google Scholar and Müller, Karl, Geschichte der katholischen Kirche in Togo (Kaldenkirchen, 1958)Google Scholar.

35 Nussbaum, Manfred, Togo, eine Musterkolonie? (Berlin, 1962)Google Scholar.

36 Gann, Lewis H. and Knoll, Arthur J., “Introduction” in Germans in the Tropics: Essays in German Colonial History, ed. Knoll, Arthur J. and Gann, Lewis H. (Westport, 1987), xivGoogle Scholar.

37 Gann, /Duignan, , Rulers, xi–xiiGoogle Scholar.

38 The archives of the Reichskolonialamtes were returned to (East) Germany in 1956 from the Soviet Union, which had seized them during World War II. They were subsequently housed nt the Zentralen Staatsarchives der Deutsche Demokratische Republik in Potsdam.

39 For an English-language survey including work by several of these East German historians, see Stoecker, Helmuth, ed., German Imperialism in Africa: From the Beginnings until the Second World War (London, 1986)Google Scholar.

40 Peter Sebald, personal correspondence. Also see Heyden, Ulrich van der, “Anstelle eine Vorwortes” in Studien zur Geschichte des deutschen Kolonialismus in Africa: Festschrift zum 60. Geburtstag von Peter Sebald, ed. Heine, Peter and Heyden, Ulrich van der (Pfaffenweiler, 1995), 9Google Scholar.

41 See Sebald, Togo, 1884-1914.

42 The source material is stated clearly in the subtitle of Sebald's book, Eine Geschichte der deutschen “Musterkolonie” auf der Grundlage amtlicher Quellen, which translates as “a history of the German ‘model colony’ based on official sources,” clearly referring to archival materials.

43 The exceptions among the latter are the Ghanaians Ansa Asamoa and M. B. K. Darkoh. Asamoa's analyses are unabashedly Marxist, e.g., his “On German Colonial Rule in Togo” in Heine, /Heyden, van der, Studien, 114–25Google Scholar. Darkoh's work on Togoland is clearly neo-imperialist. In the conclusion to a two-part study of the economic “development” of the colony, Darkoh claimed that “[i]n spite of the snags of German rule, in spite of what the critics say, Togoland may be said to have seen one of the most remarkable phases of progress in the history of colonial rule:” Darkoh, M. B. K., “Togoland under the Germans: Thirty Years of Economic Development—Part II,” Nigerian Geographical Journal 11/2(December 1968), 165Google Scholar. See also idem., “Togoland under the Germans: Thirty Years of Economic Development—Part I,” Nigerian Geographical Journal 10/2(December 1967), 107-22. Neither Asamoa nor Darkoh wrote extensively on the German occupation, however.

44 Interestingly, Amenumey's sources for his analysis of the German period are composed almost exclusively of European archival materials. This is in stark contrast to his work on precolonial Ewe history, in which he incorporated oral traditions to a large extent.

45 Amenumey, D. E. K., “German Administration in Southern Togo,” in JAH 10(1969), 636CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

46 Amenumey did not label the activities of Togolanders “resistance,” but instead analyzed how the Togolanders “reacted” to German policies. This choice of language is indicative of the period in which Amenumey was writing, when the school of “African initiative” informed discourse on the colonial period. This model was articulated especially by historians based at the University of Dar es Salaam in the 1960s. For a more recent overview by one of the pioneers of the “African initiative” school see Ranger, T. O., “African Intitiatives and Resistance in the Face of Partition and Conquest” in UNESCO General History of Africa, 7, Africa Under Colonial Domination (Berkeley, 1985), 45–62Google Scholar.

47 Knoll, Arthur J., Togo Under Imperial Germany 1884-1914 (Stanford, 1978)Google Scholar.

48 Smith, Woodruff D., The German Colonial Empire (Chapel Hill, 1978), 68Google Scholar.

49 See the following two collections, which include articles dealing with aspects of the German occupation: Gayibor, N. L., ed., Les Togolais face à la colonisation (Lomé, 1994)Google Scholar and Le Togo depuis la Conference de Berlin 1884-1984 (Lomé, 1984)Google Scholar. The latter is the result of a conference organized by West German and Togolese governmental and academic organizations to commemorate the centenary of the establishment of the Togoland protectorate. See also Ahadji, A., Rélations commerciales entre l'Allemagne et le Togo, 1680-1914 (Lomé, 1984)Google Scholar, for a history of trade between Germany and Togo.

50 Cornevin, Robert: Le Togo des origines à nos jours (Paris, 1987)Google Scholar; idem., Le Togo (Paris, 1973); idem., Histoire du Togo (Paris, 1962); and idem., Histoire de la colonisation allemande (Paris, 1969), translated into German by Jenny, Hans as Geschichte der deutschen Kolonisation (Goslar, 1974)Google Scholar.

51 Erbar, Ralph, Ein “Platz an der Sonne”?: Der Verwaltungs- und Wirtschaftsgeschichle der deutschen Kolonie Togo 1884-1914 (Stuttgart, 1991)Google Scholar.

52 For a recent collection of articles on German colonialism in Africa, including pieces by several of the writers discussed above, see Heine/van den Heyden, Studien.

53 This area of Ghana, which includes the large towns of Ho, Hohoe, and Kpandu, constituted part of the Misahöhe Bezirk of Togoland and, later, was included in the British Togolands. Fieldwork was conducted in Ghana during summer 1993; summer 1995 (through a grant from the UCLA Department of History); 1996-97 (Fulbright Grant); and summer 2001 (Faculty Research Grant from the University of Memphis).