[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.The annexationexisted mostly on paper until the coastal war of 1888 1890, when theGerman military conquered an augmented territorial expanse and directstate administration replaced company rule.+"Between annexation in 1885 and the coastal war in 1888, GermanEast Africa became the first setting for German women s colonialistactivism.In 1885 Countess Martha von Pfeil of Berlin decided to estab-lish a Protestant church for Germans on Zanzibar, which Carl Petershoped to add to his new colony.Martha and her sister Eva von Pfeil,who soon joined her e"orts, were Protestant, archconservative, andintensely nationalistic noblewomen.Unmarried, they lacked a familyfortune and patched together a living from work as teachers, privatenurses, and lady s companions, and from taking in boarders.&! Eventhough they never left Germany, Martha and Eva were no strangers tooverseas colonization.One brother, Bernhard, was a coxswain for Sul-tan Barghash ibn Sa id, and another brother, Hugo, settled permanentlyin the Dutch East Indies (today Indonesia). "`" A cousin, Count Joachimvon Pfeil, even belonged to Carl Peters s expedition party in 1884, but hequarreled with Peters on that expedition, remained in Africa for the restof the 1880s, and played no role in his cousins activism. " " The initiativelay with Martha and her sister.In June 1885 Martha von Pfeil published an appeal for donations inKolonialpolitische Korrespondenz, the organ of Carl Peters s Society forGerman Colonization (Gesellschaft für deutsche Kolonisation). "d" Sev-eral pastors signed the appeal, including Ludwig Diestelkamp, an earlyfollower of Peters who had urged Pfeil to act. "e" So did women con-nected to Germany s social elite of aristocratic military oH"cers such asCountess Waldersee and her daughter Helene.(Count Alfred Wal-16 german women for empire dersee became head of the Prussian General Sta" in 1888 and com-manded the German troops in the Boxer War in China in 1900.) InOctober 1885 Martha von Pfeil held her first meeting.The surviving minutes of that meeting indicate disagreement overwhether the new organization should minister to German colonists,missionize heathens, or both. "" This debate was to recur frequently.The balance shifted in favor of serving German colonists when two notparticularly religious colonialists began to attend Martha von Pfeil smeetings in March 1886: Carl Peters himself and Baroness Frieda vonBülow. "" Peters, a master agitator, soon dominated the meetings.Hehad great powers of persuasion with both men and women, and heconsciously cultivated the latter as supporters. "" Peters had a strategicinterest in fostering new organizations that would o"er him personalloyalty.Joachim von Pfeil was not the only old comrade-in-arms tobreak with him; so did Friedrich Lange, a radical nationalist publicist. "ÀIn fact, many people who had direct experience with Peters becamedisillusioned with him.Some of his contemporaries and most historianshave judged him to be unscrupulous, paranoid, filled with delusions ofgrandeur, and given to acts of cruelty. "+" The German government andhis opponents within the colonialist movement distrusted his judg-ment; Bismarck, for example, limited Peters s powers in the GermanEast African Company after granting its charter because he feared thatPeters s brusque and erratic behavior would deter investors. "&! Eventhough Peters still retained a leading position in the company, he wasgradually losing his grip on it.In an e"ort to strengthen his power base,Peters brought some of his remaining allies to Pfeil s meetings and in-stalled them on her group s board.These men were radical nationalistswho definitely preferred rapid exploitation to missionary work: AugustLeue, the general secretary of the German East African Company; FritzBley, a pan-German journalist who argued that races were in perpetualconflict; Count Felix Behr-Bandelin, who bankrolled far-right-wing ini-tiatives; and Friedrich Schröder, a company oH"cial charged with planta-tion administration
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]