German Settlers

[KZNChris]

This is not strictly part of the military action but is part of the greater war story.

Does anyone know why the German settlers in GEA were sent back to Germany after the end of the war ?

As far as I understand the same thing did not happen in German South West Africa ? ( and therefore there is still a strong German feel and presence in Namibia )

Botha was the guy in chage in GSWA / Smuts in GEA

Were these decisions made by South Africans or by the British ?

Were they made at the Paris peace Conference or somewhere else ?

Either way what was the rationale and reasoning behind it ?

Just something that is both troubling as well as interesting to me.

[centurion]

I can only respond by applying a sort of doctrine of similarities in that a very similar process happened in those German Pacific possessions which fell under Australian administration. In that case the decisions appear to have been taken in Australia so the same would probably apply in GSWA. GSWA was occupied by South Africa from 1915 and later became a League of Nations Mandate run by South Africa. GEA was subject to agreement in the Treaty of Versailles as it was partitioned between Britain and Belgium with Tanganyika going to Britain and Rwanda and Burundi to Belgium. When a League of Nations mandate was applied to Tanganyika Britain remained the administrative power so I would guess that decisions affecting this area were made in London not Pretoria.

[KONDOA]

This may answer your question:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=-4627888&CATLN=7&Highlight=%2CGERMANS%2CGERMAN%2CEAST%2CAFRICA&accessmethod=0

and

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=3355243&CATLN=6&Highlight=%2CGERMAN%2CGERMAN%2CEAST%2CAFRICA%2CGERMAN%2CEAST%2CAFRICA%2CGERMAN%2CGERMANS%2CGERMAN%2CGERMANS%2CEAST%2CAFRICA%2CGERMAN&accessmethod=0

and

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=3355243&CATLN=6&Highlight=%2CGERMAN%2CGERMAN%2CEAST%2CAFRICA%2CGERMAN%2CEAST%2CAFRICA%2CGERMAN%2CGERMANS%2CGERMAN%2CGERMANS%2CEAST%2CAFRICA%2CGERMAN&accessmethod=0

and

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATID=3848003&CATLN=6&Highlight=%2CGERMANS%2CEAST%2CAFRICA&accessmethod=0

Roop

[centurion]

Which - if I am interpreting it right, supports my supposition thet GEA was treated as a Brtiish Colony or protectorate so decisions taken from London and GSWA was treated as a Union of South Africa protectorate

[KONDOA]

Looks that way.

[Ithklur]

It was, in fact

In July 1915 GSWA capitulated to Great Britain represented by the forces of the Union of South Africa.

In 1921 the League of Nations declared SWA mandated to South Africa.

Half of the Germans including all officials and troops with their families were expatriated.

In 1917 the whole GEA was occupied by belgian and commonwealth troops

Most male germans are already POW in egypt or india, their families usually

evacuated to Tabora, Dar-es salaam, etc

After the war in 1919 the POW were sent back to germany as their homeland as their families,too

Thus, in 1921 when GEA become tanganyika territory under british administration there are few if any 

german remnants in GEA

regards

Olav

[KZNChris]

In 1917 the whole GEA was occupied by belgian and commonwealth troops

Most male germans are already POW in egypt or india, their families usually

evacuated to Tabora, Dar-es salaam, etc

Olav

I see in "Tip & Run" list of photos next to page 164 -- German prisoners at the Fort Napier prison camp in South Africa

IF I suspect correctly that might be near to where I am. I will see if I can follow it up.

[athelstan]

If you can find a copy, G.L. Steer's book 'Judgement on German Africa' is a useful source of information on what happened in the German African colonies. For German South West Africa Steer records "Unlike other victorious Powers who were accorded Mandates in Africa, the Union permitted the great majority of the German settlers to remain in South West and keep their farm property. There were nearly 15,000 whites, mostly Germans, in the territory at the outbreak of war. At its end the German garrison,officials and police, accompanied by their families and by a class described as 'undesirables' were repatriated. About 1,500 other Germans left voluntarily. The sum of those who went back to Germany was 6,400, leaving a final residue of 8,000 - mostly ex-enemy subjext - around whom to build a state."

One wonders who the "undesirables" were!

A 1923 agreement between the Union of South Africa and the German Government had as its chief clause 'The policy of the Union Government is to accept the Germans of South West Africa as part of the people, with the same privileges and the same responsibilities as the other citizens.' The Germans were staying.

Hope this is of use.

james w

Reference

'Judgement on German Africa' by G.L. Steer, Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1939

[thesamsonsed@gmail.com]

The reason Germans were allowed to stay in GSWA after the war was for political reasons. The South African government (which was granted a mandate to administer GSWA on behalf of Great Britain) was concerned that if they sent all the Germans back to Germany, there would be a black uprising. The dillema the South Africans faced in this was how to demonstrate that they'd defeated the Germans without undermining the stability of the country. They also had to have some Germans moved so that there were farms to distribute as promised by the SAf government for those who volunteered.

Who to send back was relatively random - anyone suspected of anti-SA sentiments was targeted. However, the evidence required was rather slim as recorded in SE Kanzler, Expelledfrom a beloved country: German settlers in Southern Namibia between ColonialWar and World War (Nature investments, Namibia 2006).

This is the story of two brothers who migrated to GSWA from Germany, took part in the war and were expelled despite having invested heavily in the country. It seems they were expelled because someone wanted their farmland and spread a rumour to the district officer who had to submit names of Germans to deport, Another brother (who arrived later and was less economically stable) was allowed to stay in the country.

REF: J Silvester, ‘Beasts, boundaries and buildings:The survival and creation of pastoral economics in Southern Namibia, 1915-1935’in P Hayes et al, Namibia under SouthAfrican rule 1915-46: Mobility and containment (James Currey, Oxford, 1998)p 105

Regarding GEA, there were fewer Germans in that colony making it cheaper/easier to deport and to replace with demobilised British soldiers (at least in theory).

RA Austen's Northwest Tanzania under German and British rule: Colonial policy and tribal politics, 1889-1939 (1968) although a localised history sets out the difficulties the British had administering the Bukoba area from 1916 once it was captured. I don't have references to hand but there are detailed discussions in CO papers at The National Archives, Kew on the issue of post-war administration in GEA.

Best wishes

Anne

[bushfighter]

Sir Charles Dundas' African Crossroads gives interesting details of the transition in Tanganyika Territory from German to British administrative methods.

Pages 113 and 114 mention the repatriation of all Germans and the expropriation of their property.

He writes:

To their amazement some of these repatriated Germans learnt that they had acquired new nationality, e.g. Polish, Jugoslav, Lithuanian. One I knew discovered that he had become a Czechoslovak, a nationality until then unknown to him.

Despite offering no military threat whatsoever the German nuns had to go but the Alsation priests, speaking only German and having unfeignedly Teutonic names, stayed on as they were now French.

Sir Charles states that within 5 years new German immigrants were arriving who were less trustworthy that the ones who had been repatriated.

This was correct as in 1939 some Germans in Tanganyika were in conflict with the British security forces. Most were interned but some got out to the Belgian Congo or Mozambique.

Harry