Geo A. Schmidt

Geo A. Schmidt , bourgeois Georg Albert Ferdinand Schmidt (born July 10, 1870 in Reppen , Brandenburg province ; died June 26, 1943 in Berlin ), was a German colonial official. During his time as district manager in German Togo from 1900 to 1904, he established a tyranny. His actions turned into a colonial scandal in the 1900s.

Life

Schmidt came from a middle-class and noble family; his mother came from the noble Hertzberg family and his father was a chief forester . He attended the Joachimsthalsche Gymnasium in Berlin and then studied forest science and agriculture . From 1895 to 1899 he headed a tea - plantation in British India . The colonialist Carl Peters was an acquaintance of Schmidt. In 1899 he began to work as a colonial official, and from 1900 he was station master in Atakpame in German Togo.

The Steyler missionaries in Atakpame, including Pastor Franz Müller, criticized and opposed Schmidt several times. From 1900 onwards, and increasingly from 1902 onwards, Müller filed lawsuits against Schmidt on the basis of tyranny and rape. Among other things, the mission charged with raping Adjaro Nyakuda, a girl aged between 12 and 14, who Schmidt had arrested in 1901 for illegally harvesting rubber . When the local population defended themselves against Schmidt in the summer of 1903, he punished them with such severe flogging that some were killed. He also commissioned the looting and devastation of villages.

In August 1902, Chief Kukowina, with the help of the Afro-Brazilian businessman Octaviano Olympio, lodged a complaint against Schmidt with the governor of Togo, Woldemar Horn . Schmidt then arrested Kukowina. He was only released in November 1902 after Horn had stood up for him, and died shortly afterwards, presumably due to the conditions in which he was detained. The lawsuits against Schmidt were not pursued. In 1904 he was transferred to Cameroon .

On December 3, 1906, Hermann Roeren , member of the German Center Party , made the Atakpame scandal public in the Reichstag and turned against German colonial policy . His party colleague Matthias Erzberger and the Social Democrat August Bebel joined the criticism. Under the title Schmidt against Roeren. Under the Caudin yoke. A fight for justice and honor, Schmidt published a justification in 1907 in response to Roeren's allegations.

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Rebekka Habermas : Scandal in Togo: A Chapter of German Colonial Rule . Fischer, 2016.
^ Missionspriesterseminar St. Augustin, Siegburg (Hrsg.): History of the Catholic Church in Togo . 1958, p. 160 .
↑ ^a ^b Biographical Handbook of the German Foreign Service, 1871-1945 . F. Schöningh, 2000.
^ Press document 1906. Retrieved March 18, 2020 .
^ German colonial history - scandal in Togo. In: Deutschlandfunk. Retrieved on March 18, 2020 (German).
^ Geo A. Schmidt: Schmidt against Roeren. Under the Caudin yoke. A fight for justice and honor . Schwetschke & Sohn, 1907 ( google.de [accessed on March 18, 2020]).

personal data
SURNAME	Schmidt, Geo A.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Schmidt, Georg Albert Ferdinand
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German colonial official
DATE OF BIRTH	July 10, 1870
PLACE OF BIRTH	Reppen , Brandenburg Province
DATE OF DEATH	June 26, 1943
Place of death	Berlin

[:0-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Rebekka Habermas : Scandal in Togo: A Chapter of German Colonial Rule . Fischer, 2016.

[2] Missionspriesterseminar St. Augustin, Siegburg (Hrsg.): History of the Catholic Church in Togo . 1958, p. 160 .

[:2-3] Biographical Handbook of the German Foreign Service, 1871-1945 . F. Schöningh, 2000.

[4] Press document 1906. Retrieved March 18, 2020 .

[5] German colonial history - scandal in Togo. In: Deutschlandfunk. Retrieved on March 18, 2020 (German).

[:1-6] Geo A. Schmidt: Schmidt against Roeren. Under the Caudin yoke. A fight for justice and honor . Schwetschke & Sohn, 1907 ( google.de [accessed on March 18, 2020]).