GERMANS IN TANGANYIKA

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

[Correspondents arc requested to keep their letter4 as brief as is reasonably possible. The most suitable length is that of one of our " Nees of the Week " paragraphs. Signed letters are given a preference over those bearing a pseudonym.—Ed. THE SPECTATOR.]

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] STR,—So much misunderstanding exists, not only in Great Britain, but also in East Africa, as to the attitude of the Germans in this Mandated Territory towards the British Government that some attempt to show the real problems at issue may be not without interest to the readers of The Spectator. The writer's qualifications for undertaking this work are that, as a Land Surveyor, he has worked and lived amongst Germans almost the whole of the eight years he has been engaged in this profession and is happy to number many of them amongst his personal friends.

Broadly speaking, the Germans in Tanganyika may be divided into two classes. In the first class are the employees of the big mercantile firms and sisal estate owners (both German and Indian) on the Coast and Coastal Belt, who are in receipt of regular salaries and take their leave in Europe, and beyond the holding down of their jobs have, like the Govern- ment officials, no stake in the country. The second class, which comprises the great majority, are those who have left Germany with more or less capital with the intention of taking up land in the old German colony and making their homes therein. They are in the true sense settlers, and it is of them that I am chiefly speaking. Oldeani, in the Northern Province, may be taken as a typical German Settlement. It happens to be not only the largest, but it is also the most exclusively German, since with the exception of some half-dozen farms in the extreme F.ast belonging to South African Dutchmen, and one holding in the centre in the possession of a Norwegian, the settlers are all subjects of the Third Reich and except for purely official communications with the Administration have few oppor- tunities for meeting people of other nationalities.

The history of the settlement starts in 1927, when some new- comers from Germany, having failed to find suitable land else- where came to this area and after each had selected a piece of land asked the Government to give them " Rights of Occu- pancy." The Government eventually agreed to their demands and the requisite surveys having been made title deeds were issued to the original " squatters." The areas of land alienated for settlement were further increased in 1931 and 1934 until today there are nearly eighty farms, of which about seventy are in the hands of Germans.

The original settlers were mostly of the petty official type, ex-sergeant-majors and the like, on small pensions who were helped in their capital expenditure by " The General Investment and Development Company, Ltd. " (more familiarly known as Gendico "). This company is said to be financed in part, if not wholly, by the German Govern- ment. Later as the district became better known they were followed by gentlemen with capital adequate to run their estates without extraneous assistance. It is regrettable to observe that the " old " and " new " settlers have never been able to get on with each other, either socially, or for the benefit of the whole community.

It was early found necessary, as in other parts of the world, to form some sort of planters' association in order that the views of settlers could be put before the authorities with one voice. As the settlement was exclusively German the

necessary machinery lay to hand in the " Deutsche Bund," a non-political association founded for keeping German

subjects in touch with each other throughout the country.

As a planters' association the Deutsche Bund functioned very well for a number of years. Recently, however, local members of the Nazi party started interfering with the old association, with the result that it gradually became disor- ganised until today it does not function at all, to the great loss of the community. This quarrel between the " Bund "

and the " Partei " is essentially a private affair, and is of importance to no one except the Germans themselves. It

does, however, confirm the impression that the apparent unity of Germany today under Adolf Hitler is merely super- ficial and maintained more by force of arms than by the unity of public opinion.

Every German very naturally hotly argues the injustice of the confiscation of the colonies and the necessity of their return. The reason given in the Treaty of Versailles for the confiscation was that Germany had shown she was not fitted to rule them. Today, seventeen years after the War, bribery and corruption amongst the officials, forced labour on settlers' estates, the conscription of natives for foreign service in the army are abuses in the colonies of our late " gallant Allies:' These major abuses were at least absent in the German Colonial Administration. At the same time, the thinking German will admit the difficulties in the way of restoration. Only two need be mentioned in connexion with Tanganyika, the strategic and the financial. Strategically, Tanganyika today forms a vital link in the Imperial Airways line between North and South Africa. Financially no one can give-any idea how Germany, in the present state of her finances, can give adequate compensation for the money spent by Great Britain in Tanganyika alone. Incidentally, if this question of returning the Colonies is ever considered in England, it is to be hoped that the British Government will consider the future of private individuals of British nationality in the colonies to be restored. The Government will without doubt look after its own interests and those of its officials and possibly those of British estate owners, but the interests of professional men without real estate may easily be forgotten.

The reasons given in popular propaganda for the necessity of returning the colonies are curiously unconvincing. The two most common reasons given are that colonies are essential for the relief of unemployment and for the supply of raw materials. In point of fact, apart from the many problems involved in the intensive settlement of a European peasantry in a tropical country, it is very doubtful if it would be possible in more than a very few places in Tanganyika and still fewer in South West Africa, owing to the shortage of water. It would be found impossible, actually, even if the interests of the natives were completely ignored, to settle even one per cent. of Germany's unemployed in her old East African colony. As for the supply of raw materials, it is only necessary to give the example of sisal, which before the War was the chief export from Deutsch Ost-Afrika. The total output was then only sufficient for the needs of the Imperial Navy. It is true that today the exports are vastly greater than they were in 1914, but even if all Germany's pre-War colonies were restored they could never produce a tithe of the tropical raw materials required by her factories. The only reasons not emphasised, but the only ones that really count, are those of prestige and self-respect.

It is however by no means really certain that the German settlers are unanimous in their desire for the return of the colonies as long as the present regime is in power in Germany. I have had more than one hint that if Tanganyika were returned, a number of settlers, all unquestionably " Aryans " would endeavour to sell out and to acquire land in Kenya or elsewhere under the British flag: This has been the more so lately as rumours as to the immediate return of the colony have been stronger than ever. There is, of course, no danger that any overt action will be taken, even by the most fanatical, as most strict instructions have been issued by the German Government as to the behaviour of the good Nazi living under a foreign flag, instructions based on the behaviour of a guest in the house of his host. It has also been emphasised that as negotiations can take place only between London and Berlin the settler abroad can do nothing to help except by keeping quiet.

In conclusion, it may safely be said that the German settler in Tanganyika wants nothing more than to be left in peace, to grow his coffee and sell it remuneratively ; if given the choice of getting back "German East "'by force °Farms or of living in peace under the British flag, 95 per cent. would, without hesitation, choose peace under the Union JaCk.--