Black Germany: The Making and Unmaking of a Diaspora Community, 1884-1960

384 Pages·2013·5.212 MB·English

by  Dr Robbie Aitken, Professor Eve Rosenhaft

Black Germany
This ground-breaking history traces the development of Germany’s
black community, from its origins in colonial Africa to its decimation
bytheNazisduringWorldWarTwo.RobbieAitkenandEveRosenhaft
followthecareersofAfricansarrivingfromthecolonies,examiningwhy
andwheretheysettled,theirworkinglivesandtheirpoliticalactivities,
and giving unprecedented attention to gender, sexuality and the chal-
lenges of ‘mixed marriage’. Addressing the networks through which
individuals constituted community, Aitken and Rosenhaft explore the
ways in which these relationships spread beyond ties of kinship and
birthplacetoconstitutecommunitiesas‘black’.Thestudyalsofollows
a number of its protagonists to France and back to Africa, providing
new insights into the roots of Francophone black consciousness and
post-colonialmemory.Includinganin-depthaccountoftheimpactof
Nazismanditsaftermath,thisbookoffersafreshcriticalperspectiveon
narrativesof‘race’inGermanhistory.
robbie aitken is a Senior Lecturer in Imperial History at Sheffield
HallamUniversity.
eve rosenhaft is Professor of German Historical Studies at the
UniversityofLiverpool.

Black Germany
The Making and Unmaking of a Diaspora
Community, 1884–1960
Robbie Aitken and Eve Rosenhaft
UniversityPrintingHouse,CambridgeCB28BS,UnitedKingdom
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©RobbieAitkenandEveRosenhaft2013
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
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Firstpublished2013
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyClays,StIvesplc
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
LibraryofCongressCataloguinginPublicationdata
Aitken,RobbieJohnMacvicar.
BlackGermany:themakingandunmakingofadiasporacommunity,
1884–1960/RobbieAitkenandEveRosenhaft.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-107-04136-3(Hardback)
1. Blacks–Germany–History. 2. Blacks–Germany–Socialconditions.
3. Cameroonians–Germany–History.4. Africans–Germany–History.
5. Germany–Racerelations–History. 6. Germany–Emigrationand
immigration. 7. Germany–Colonies–Africa–Emigrationandimmigration.
8. Cameroon–Emigrationandimmigration. I.Rosenhaft,Eve,1951–
II. Title.
DD78.B55A482013
305.896043–dc23 2013009484
ISBN978-1-107-04136-3Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
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For Ella, Alec and Daniel – cosmopolitans all

Contents
List of illustrations page viii
List of maps x
Acknowledgements xi
List of abbreviations xiv
Introduction 1
1 The first generation: from presenceto community 22
2 ShouldI stay and can I go? Statusand mobility
in the institutional net 67
3 Settling down: marriageand family 88
4 Surviving in Germany: work, welfare and community 119
5 Problem men and exemplary women? Gender,
class and ‘race’ 161
6 Practising diaspora – politics 1918–1933 194
7 Underthe shadow ofNational Socialism 231
8 Refuge France? 279
Epilogue 316
Bibliography 329
Index 354
vii
Illustrations
1.1 ‘15Degrees below Zero’,Kladderadatsch,29 January 1888
Publicdomain page 40
1.2 Duala visiting EduardScheve in Berlin,1902
Diakoniegemeinschaft Bethel e.V., with permission 46
1.3 Imageof Tongo reproduced inVerhandlungen der
Berliner Gesellschaftfür Anthropologie, Ethnologie und
Urgeschichte,23(1891),280–2
Publicdomain 55
2.1 Identity papers, Gottlieb Kala Kinger,1922
Centre desArchives d’Outre-Mer, Aix-en-Provence,
FR ANOM1AFFPOL 613/1071,all rights reserved 76
2.2 Thomas MangaAkwa,date unknown
VictorDicka Akwa, Douala, with permission 85
4.1 The‘Indian’Bar, Hamburg, c.1925
Bildarchiv Hamburg, AA 1663,with permission 123
4.2 Colonial trader Mandenga Diek, 1920
Centre desArchives d’Outre-Mer, Aix-en-Provence,
FR ANOM1AFFPOL 614/02, allrights reserved 136
5.1 ‘Incolonial days they used to run aroundin figleaves;
nowthey’re better dressed than weare!’,Der WahreJakob,
14 September 1929
Everyeffort has been madeto trace the copyright holder. 170
5.2 Gregor Kotto,publicity postcard, around1929
Collection of Robbie Aitken 171
5.3 A souvenirmontageforHeinrich Eugen Ndine, 1890
Stadtarchiv Langenau, with permission 174
5.4 BerthaEbumbu Mbengeand Esther Sike Bilé, Berlin 1901
Diakoniegemeinschaft Bethel e.V., with permission 180
5.5 MariaMandessi Bell at the inauguration ofPastor
Wißtoffin Eberswalde, 1912
Evangelisch-Freikirchliche Gemeinde Eberswalde,
withpermission 187
viii