By Martina Hafner
Friedrich Maharero traveled to Berlin in 1896 to meet the emperor. And experienced a dark chapter in German colonial history. The Humboldt Forum is currently working on it.
He came to Berlin to meet the emperor in his castle. But Friedrich Maharero (1875-1952), son of the Herero chief Samuel Maharero, had to allow himself to be ogled at a so-called “people’s show” at the colonial exhibition in Treptow in 1896. From around two million visitors.
In fact there was an audience on September 19th. However, there is still nothing in the Humboldt Forum that commemorates this event. Alfred Hagemann (48), head of the history of the place, now wants to change that after a research project on the topic: “We have had it on our minds for several years that we would like to have a trace of the colonial history of the place here. But it’s not so easy to find an object or an image that isn’t so inherently racist that it’s almost impossible to exhibit. But we will find a way.”
Alfred Hagemann, head of the local history department, in the Humboldt Forum
Photo: Sven Darmer
Two photos taken in Berlin have been preserved by Friedrich Maharero. A portrait shows him in a classic European suit, another as a participant in a so-called “Hottentot parade”. Was it clear to the young Herero what awaited him in Berlin? “It was obviously the prerequisite if he wanted to go to Berlin and meet the Kaiser. And that his father covered the travel expenses. I don’t think he realized what that meant,” explains Hagemann. “He and his fellow travelers also refused to stand there and wear what the Germans thought were traditional African clothes,” Hagemann continued.
The audience only took place after two months. Friedrich Maharero had come to Germany with his group on July 15th. After some bureaucratic back and forth between various departments, a message arrived on September 18th from Oberhofmarschall von Eulenburg, who had the emperor’s appointment calendar had in hand: that an audience would be possible the next day, shortly before the monarch traveled on to East Prussia.
The 22-year-old Friedrich Maharero was photographed in Berlin in 1896 wearing a suit and bow tie Photo: Private
“We do not know exactly where the audience took place, probably in the king’s apartment since Maharero entered through Portal 1. It wasn’t a state visit, it would have been held in the knight’s hall with a throne and diplomatic preparations. Because they obviously didn’t want to give the local rulers too much importance,” explains Hagemann.
At the audience, Friedrich Maharero presented the emperor with a letter from his father Samuel Maharero. Some newspapers reported briefly on the meeting: “The gist of what Frederick tells the Kaiser is that they are very happy with the German governor Leutwein because he understands them. And that they would like the Kaiser to ensure that Leutwein stays in German South West Africa.”
Caricature about Kaiser Wilhelm II’s hunger for power from the satirical magazine “Le Rire” from 1898 Photo: Le Rire
A hope that was only briefly fulfilled. Leutwein was replaced in 1904 by the extremely brutal Lothar von Trotha, who bloodily suppressed the Herero and Nama uprising, drove the people into the desert and left them to die of thirst. A genocide with around 75,000 deaths. It was only under pressure from Reich Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow that the Emperor withdrew von Trotha’s order to exterminate the Herero, and von Bülow condemned von Trotha’s actions as a contradiction to “all principles of Christianity and humanity”.
Friedrich Maharero and his father Samuel were able to flee to the neighboring country. The son was later bitterly disappointed by his visit to Berlin, explains Hagemann, because he had hoped for something from the Kaiser and the Germans in the sense of education or progress, according to Hagemann: “Maharero later said in an interview: ‘Except for the word God “We didn’t get anything from them.”
Site plan of the Berlin trade exhibition with the colonial show from 1896 in Treptower Park Photo: Private
A silver ship in the Humboldt Forum best reminds us of this dark chapter of German history in the space of the video panorama, says Hagemann, “A very important object because it shows how the Kaiser is interested in imperialist world politics, how he promotes naval policy – Colonial policy is part of it. There is a clear starting point from which to report on this part of the story.”
And: The permanent exhibition in the Treptow Museum reports on the Berlin colonial exhibition of 1896.
Sterndamm 102, Mon, Thu, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., Tue 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Sun 2 p.m. – 6 p.m., free entry.