Controversial Kinship Colonial and National Socialist Violence
Alfredo Gauro Ambrosi, Bombardamento in Africa Orientale (Bombardment in East Africa), Trentino 1936 © Museo dell’aeronautica Gianni Caproni (Fondazione Museo storico del Trentino, C00222
Alfredo Gauro Ambrosi painted the bombardment during the Italo-Abyssinian War of 1935–1936 in the style of aeropittura (aerial painting), thus combining enthusiasm for technology with the Italian fascists’ claims to power and superiority.
C. L. R. James during a rally at Trafalgar Square, London, 25 August 1935, Reproduction, Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images, K025939-A4
In August 1935, the Caribbean intellectual C. L. R. James (1901–1989), chairman of the International African Friends of Abyssinia, spoke to a crowd of around 500 people and warned of the impending Italian attack on Abyssinia.
High boots belonging to a member of the General SS, Obersturmbannführer, Sturm 112, 1933-1935 © Deutsches Historisches Museum
The black, knee-high boots were a defining feature of members of the SA and SS. They symbolise determination and obedience, but also violence and the suppression of opponents.
Vladimír Matějka, “obedience “, from the nine-part cycle “There is a path to freedom …”, Příbram, after 1945 © Oranienburg, Gedenkstätte und Museum Sachsenhausen, IV 208
In 1939, Heinrich Himmler (1900–1945) coined the cynical motto: “[...] there is a path to freedom. Its milestones are obedience, diligence, honesty, order, cleanliness, sobriety, truthfulness, a spirit of sacrifice, and love of the Fatherland!” He promised that prisoners would be released from the concentration camp. In reality, this became increasingly rare after the war began. After his imprisonment, Vladimír Matějka, a former prisoner of the Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps, created a nine-part cycle on Himmler’s propaganda lie, at the request of fellow prisoners. He set it against scenes of a prisoner’s everyday life at Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
Hippopotamus hoof from East Africa, mounted as a cigar case, “Max Erler” Fur Company, Leipzig, ca. 1915 © Museum der Stadt Lünen, L 074
Colonial official Ernst Goormann had this hippopotamus hoof prepared as a “cigar case” in Leipzig by the court purveyor Max Erler. The three other hooves from the hippo that had been shot during a big-game hunt in East Africa were made into two flowerpots and a wine cooler.
Hippopotamus hoof from East Africa, mounted as a cigar case, “Max Erler” Fur Company, Leipzig, ca. 1915 © Museum der Stadt Lünen, L 074
Colonial official Ernst Goormann had this hippopotamus hoof prepared as a “cigar case” in Leipzig by the court purveyor Max Erler. The three other hooves from the hippo that had been shot during a big-game hunt in East Africa were made into two flowerpots and a wine cooler.
Clearing of land by setting grass on fire during a German research expedition to Tendaguru in German East Africa (now Tanzania), 1909–1913, Photographer: Edwin Hennig or Werner Janensch © Berlin, Museum für Naturkunde, K 002, 414
Members of an expedition to excavate and remove dinosaur skeletons observed the slash-and-burn practices. Later, expedition leader Edwin Hennig recommended this method as an efficient means of developing and controlling the natural environment in the colonies.
Postcard featuring “Askaris” and the German Imperial flag, ca. 1910 © Deutsches Historisches Museum
African soldiers serving in the German colonial forces in German East Africa were known as “Askaris”. Since German and European units in the colonies were outnumbered, from 1884 they began recruiting local soldiers along the east coast of Africa, as well as in Sudan and Egypt.
Water bottle of a Herero, 1885–1904, © Ethnologische Sammlung des Museums Natur und Mensch – Museen Freiburg, photo: Axel Killian
After the Battle of Waterberg, the Herero fled into the Omaheke Desert. The German military blocked all other routes, sealed off water sources, and prevented the men, women, and children from returning. Tens of thousands died of thirst, exhaustion, hunger, and persecution.
Leaflet „Vivre libre ou mourir” (Live free or die), London, 1944 © Lyon, Centre d’Histoire de la Résistance et de la Déportation, 1966.614.3
The leaflet features the French flag, the Cross of Lorraine, and Marianne. With these national symbols and the slogan from the French Revolution, it called for resistance against the German occupation.
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