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A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...

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But the Pan-<strong>German</strong>s’ relationship with the government was never as placid as<br />

that between the DKG and the Reich. This contests the connection between the DKG,<br />

Pan-<strong>German</strong>s and the government drawn by Arendt and Schröder. 56 The groups’<br />

frequent opposition to the supposed weakness of government colonial policy indicates<br />

that their nationalist demands were not considered to have been met. As well, the Pan-<br />

<strong>German</strong>s did not have as close a relationship to business as the DKG. Chickering<br />

dismisses the arguments of Dieter Fricke, Kuczynski and Hallgarten in favour of the<br />

underwriting of the league by monopoly capital, finding instead that the organization was<br />

represented by only a narrow part of the bourgeoisie without great financial support. 57<br />

Overall, both of the groups represented a small, but loud, lobby for colonial expansion.<br />

The influence of the league was mostly manifest in <strong>German</strong> society rather than<br />

the colonies; as such it illustrated deterritorializations of the interior. After the revolts of<br />

the early twentieth century, the Pan-<strong>German</strong>s were especially loud in demanding<br />

punishment of the African rebels. The Pan-<strong>German</strong>s were thereby somewhat responsible<br />

for bringing the vicious racism of the colonies home from Africa to be applied to the<br />

domestic situation. 58 By viewing the world in racially oppositional terms and demanding<br />

action to secure <strong>German</strong>y’s dominance, the league performed a reterritorialization upon<br />

<strong>German</strong> society after the deterritorialization of the colonial revolts by stressing militarism<br />

and aggression against foreign enemies. In this manner, <strong>German</strong> social conditions were<br />

altered as a result of <strong>German</strong> and African encounters, as Bechhaus-Gerst and Klein-<br />

Arendt argue. 59<br />

The analysis of the major social organizations linked to colonial expansion allows<br />

several conclusions to be drawn. By working to extend <strong>German</strong> power, settlement and<br />

53

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