ABSTRACT
In December 1933, the Deutsche Kolonialzeitung published an article under the title “Rassenreinheit oder Rassenmischung? Frankreichs Kolonialarmee und unsere Schutztruppe.”2 This contrasted French and German colonial policies by comparing two discursive fi gures of colonial soldiers: the German Schutztruppen-Askari and the French Tirailleurs Sénégalais. The essay’s author, Erich Duems, began by referring to two articles in French colonial magazines. According to Duems, a piece in L’Afrique Française from October 1933 had pointed out that images of French and German colonial soldiers in German public discourse were contradictory. It argued that a newspaper article in the Hamburger Fremdenblatt had appealed to the German population to treat African migrants from the former colonies with respect because they had fought for the Germans in the colonies in the Great War. Referring to this, the article in L’Afrique Français concluded that, in German public discourse, German colonial soldiers were presented as comrades in arms, whereas French colonial soldiers were depicted as wild beasts. The other article, published in Quinzaine Coloniale, reported on violence against Africans from the former German colonies in Germany, and made reference to an announcement by the Police President of Hamburg, telling the population to treat migrants from the former colonies with respect. It claimed that, through this racist violence, the Germans had proved themselves unfi t as colonizers, and should thus not regain their former colonies.
