A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...

settlers, administrators and soldiers mandated government responses that earned the ire of
the DKG and the colonial supporters who believed that the government should support
vigilante expansionism. Their responses to restraints imposed upon Germans, by
Germans, for Africans presents a vivid example of the entrance of Africa into
metropolitan social affairs.
Public reaction to incidents like the 1893, 1904 and 1905 wars in the colonies
highlighted widespread animosity to colonial policy. 57 Many newspapers gave voice to
public dissatisfaction when they blamed business interests for encouraging the
government to proceed with the ruinous policy that eventually culminated in war.
Because of the violence of the government’s repression of the Herero uprising, many
Germans found the war unpalatable, despite the colonialist propaganda that aimed to
portray the suppression as justified and bloodless. 58 Even some Schutztruppe officers
returned to Germany to protest the horrors they witnessed in the repression of African
revolts. 59 Responding to what it believed to be the German population’s lacklustre
response to the war, one colonialist newspaper even complained of the “indifference” of
the general public. 60
But the German public was greatly shocked and moved by the uprising. As a
consequence of the wars, the population began to develop an increased awareness of the
African colonial situation. The newly-uncovered abuses and corruption of the colonial
administrators Horn, von Puttkammer, Kannenberg and von Besser combined with the
circumstances of the war to create the colonial scandals of 1906. 61 As the government
sought to investigate allegations of violence and exploitation, even more indignities and
venalities came to light where colonial authorities had been arbitrarily ruling without
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