Creating Germans Abroad: Cultural Policies and National Identity in Namibia

Daniel Joseph Walther. Creating Germans Abroad: Cultural Policies and National Identity in Namibia. Athens: Ohio University Press, 2002. xiv + 268 pp. Bibliography. Index. $55.00. Cloth. $26.95. Paper.

In January 1904 despair among the Herero in German Southwest Africa reached such an peak that they rose up in arms against the colonial power. August 2004 will mark the hundred-year anniversary of the battie at the Waterberg and the Vernichtungsbefehl, the Extermination Order, issued by General von Trotha. This provides an opportune moment for Daniel Walther to draw attention to the particularities of the frontier identity that emerged at the beginning of the twentieth century in a territory which, after a long and bitter struggle, finally achieved independence in March 9 1990 as the sovereign state of Namibia.

There have been solid analytical studies before, especially by the German-speaking scholars Klaus Rüdiger (1993) and Brigitta Schmidt-Lauber (1993; 1998). Walther refers only to the latter's earlier graduate work, "Die abhängigen Herren," and not to her doctoral thesis published as "Die verkehrte Hautfarbe." In contrast to their approaches, however, this book emphasizes the formative stages of German settler identity from the early twentieth century until World War II. While the introduction acknowledges theoretical conceptualizations by scholars such as Benedict Anderson as a strong influence on the author's own approach, his presentation shows hardly any traces of such schools of thought. The book is largely a compilation of (more or less interesting) quotations from archival sources, an approach that lacks systematic analytical rigor. By the end, the reader has had the opportunity to learn much about the emerging mindset of the German Southwestern Africans but has been led to few conclusions or theoretically based insights. Walther largely confirms the earlier findings of Rüdiger and Schmidt-Lauber, namely that the Germans in the colony "created a hybrid identity that combined Deutschtum with a strong dose of Southwestern conditions and life" (102). Nevertheless, the Südwester-were far from being rigidly homogeneous: "Indeed, the various groups that constituted Southwestern society had different interests and wants. Each tried to influence colonial policy for its own benefit" (184-85).

Walther misses the opportunity to explore this important aspect further by analyzing property relations and the class structure within the German settler community. In light of the colonial genocide from 1904 onward, it is particularly regrettable that he does not concentrate more on the debates on "native policy" between the Southwesterns and the German colonial authorities in Berlin or among each of these groups (who displayed considerable differences in their views). The influential advocate of a settler colony, Paul Rohrbach, and his ideas are not featured as prominently as they deserve; the same is true of von Trotha and the impact of his Vernichtungsbefehl (not only in terms of warfare but also in terms of the subsequent debate around aims and intentions of the German "civilizing mission"). Neither the genocide nor the related debate on the aims and practices of the colonial war loom large in Walther's discussion, and yet they had as much impact on the definition and application of Deutschtum in the colony as the "native policy" did.

In sum, this book does not go much beyond what is already known, at least for those familiar with the wide range of relevant German literature, a body of work not fully acknowledged by the author. he overlooks the important studies by Walter Mogk (Paul Rohrbach und das "Grössere Deutschland, "1972) and Peter Schmitt-Egner (Kolonialismus und Faschismus, 1975). More recent sources such as Joachim Zeller's doctoral thesis "Kolonialdenkmäler und Geschichtsbewusstsein" (2000) and Jürgen Zimmerer's "Deutsche Herrschaft über Afrikaner" (2001) are also missing. The author acknowledges in passing relevant works such as Martha Mamozai's Schwarze Frau, weisse Herren (Rowohlt, 1989; originally published as Herrenmenschen), but does not make adequate use of the insights offered (in this particular case on the Cramer trial, which rocked the colony over the issue of treatment of the "natives"). Instead, Walther seems to have a preference for "mainstream" literature. he also fails to explore the analytical avenues entered by postcolonial studies. That these have value to offer for the (psycho) analysis of early settler colonialism has been demonstrated by Rosa Schneider's recent thesis Um Scholle und Leben (2003).

Creating Germans Abroad is more descriptive than analytical. This is not to say that its insights are misleading or wrong, but that Walther fails to offer a fresh and provocative look at the creation of a settler society a century ago. Events that took place then will be remembered and reflected upon critically during 2004 in both Namibia and Germany, with differing and conflicting ideological perceptions. This in itself illustrates that history is far from being past. Walther has missed an excellent opportunity to make an impact on the continuing debate.