A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...

the civilization of the Germans with the “exotic” nature of their colonial wards. The
DKG-sponsored 1896 Colonial- and Transvaal-Exhibition was a major attraction,
bringing more than two million visitors to Berlin in seven months and showcasing the
people, art, technology and products of colonial Africa. 70 It is of note that this
construction of an Afro-German culture implied direct violence to Africa as many of the
Africans exhibited in the Berlin zoo cages at the exhibitions had been forcibly removed
from their homes. Other representations of Africa-in-Germany and Germany-in-Africa
were the statues and memorials built to reflect colonial themes. These can be linked to
expansion, for many had the explicit purpose of advancing the cause of colonial
intervention. The DKG made obvious efforts by erecting memorials scattered throughout
Germany stressing “Friendship” between Africans and Germans in addition to the
exertions of colonialism. 71 For example, the society planned to build a replica East
African station in a Berlin suburb to demonstrate the travails and exoticism of colonial
life. 72 For the purposes of memory and propaganda, commemorative plaques were
erected for the fallen soldiers and veterans of African wars. 73 Reciprocally, statues of
Bismarck, the explorer Carl Peters and others were erected in various colonial towns to
display German remembrance and power. These sites of colonial memory altered the
cultural landscape of Germany and Africa. Such cultural negotiations of difference and
the interactions between Germany and Africa relate deterritorialization and
reterritorialization to the motives and discourses underpinning German appropriations of
Africa. Obvious desires to transform German public opinion by introducing an idealized
vision of the colonies and consequently gaining public support for expansionism
underline the social, economic and political content of these cultural expressions.
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