A transient presence: black visitors and sojourners in Imperial Germany, 1884-1914

The onset of German colonial rule in Africa brought increasing numbers of Black men and women to Germany. Pre-1914 the vast majority of these Africans can best be described as visitors or sojourners and the Black population as a whole was a transient one. This makes recovering their presence in the archival record exceptionally difficult and it is not surprising that the existing historiography almost exclusively focuses on individual biographies of well documented lives. Through utilising a number of newly digitised archival materials, particularly the Hamburg Passenger Lists, this article draws upon a database with information on 1092 individuals from sub-Saharan Africa who spent time in Germany over the period 1884-1914 in order to add considerable bread and depth to our understanding of the Black presence as a whole. It provides increasing empirical detail about the make-up and character of this fluid population - where visitors came from, why they came to Germany, their age on arrival - as well as more accurate detail on the temporal and, to a lesser extent, spatial distribution of visitors

Kiswahili-speaking Africans in Germany before 1945

The history of Waswahili in Germany before the end of World War II, their life histories and living conditions have not as yet been subject of scientific research. In the period before the colonial occupation of Africa Africans came to Germany in small numbers voluntarily or as victims of violent abduction (Martin 1993). The Germans were interested in the exotic looks of the foreigners, but did not care about their regions of origin. Africa was the unknown black continent, terra incognita, its inhabitants indiscriminately `blacks´ or `negroes´. Their homelands and ethnic or linguistic identities remained obscure, relevant only to a small group of researchers with an early interest in the continent and its peoples. Concerning the so-called Swahili people from Eastern Africa who came to Germany from the colonial period on, one has to keep in mind that until the end of the forties their identities were usually defined by their knowledge of Kiswahili, not by their actual ethnic or linguistic origins. In this article some stories are told about Swahili- speaking people from the former colony of German East Africa, now Tanzania, who came to Germany temporarily or permanently and for different reasons left traces in written records, which help us to reconstruct parts of their biographies

Kiswahili-speaking Africans in Germany before 1945

The history of Waswahili in Germany before the end of World War II, their life histories and living conditions have not as yet been subject of scientific research. In the period before the colonial occupation of Africa Africans came to Germany in small numbers voluntarily or as victims of violent abduction (Martin 1993). The Germans were interested in the exotic looks of the foreigners, but did not care about their regions of origin. Africa was the unknown black continent, terra incognita, its inhabitants indiscriminately `blacks´ or `negroes´. Their homelands and ethnic or linguistic identities remained obscure, relevant only to a small group of researchers with an early interest in the continent and its peoples. Concerning the so-called Swahili people from Eastern Africa who came to Germany from the colonial period on, one has to keep in mind that until the end of the forties their identities were usually defined by their knowledge of Kiswahili, not by their actual ethnic or linguistic origins. In this article some stories are told about Swahili- speaking people from the former colony of German East Africa, now Tanzania, who came to Germany temporarily or permanently and for different reasons left traces in written records, which help us to reconstruct parts of their biographies

Schwarz auf Weiß: Der Kölner Kaufmann Max Esser und die Folgen seines Pioniergeists

Epple A. Schwarz auf Weiß: Der Kölner Kaufmann Max Esser und die Folgen seines Pioniergeists. In: Bechhaus-Gerst M, Horstmann A-K, eds. Köln und der deutsche Kolonialismus. Eine Spurensuche. Köln: Böhlau Verlag; 2013: 73-78