A Deterritorialized History: Investigating German Colonialism ...

consideration for law or decency. Subsequent inquiries resulted in minor punishments
for the guilty, but the larger question of what had gone wrong in the administration of the
colonies remained. 62 Chancellor Bülow and the entire colonial bureaucracy were forced
by public pressure to address the colonial disgraces. Interest in the native political groups
grew and appropriate relations with them assumed greater prominence as both German
citizens and administrators began to consider African traditions and contexts when
determining colonial policy. 63 This reciprocation of interest in African political ideas
represented a reterritorialization of the German deterritorialization of German political
ideals in Africa. It was through this, and deterritorialization’s ability to highlight the
interactions within policy, that colonialism effected and shifted the German public.
Further transgressing the limits between German and African identities were the
German settlers of the African colonies. The predominately right-wing settler lobby and
its links to the DKG, DOAG and Pan-German League exerted considerable influence
over the colonial policy of the government. The chief opponents of colonial reforms
were always the nationalistic German colonists who opposed Berlin’s interference in
colonial affairs. The settlers continually sought more money for the development of
colonial commerce, fewer restrictions upon the treatment of natives, the protection of
existing territory and the exploration of future territory. The influence of the settler lobby
and the actions of men like Peters and Lüderitz exemplified the “turbulent frontier”
discussed by J.S. Galbraith that drew the colonizer deeper into colonial affairs through
auto-catalytic forces. 64 As colonial actions grew more intense, the colonizing power was
forced by its citizens on the ground and local situations to extend the flag of sovereignty
further into the hinterland. After the revolts, the settlers and colonial administration were
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