Mdachi bin Sharifu

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Mdachi bin Scharifu (* 19th century; died 20th century) was one of the first racism critics of German colonial rule in Germany. He came to Berlin in 1913 from what was then the colony of German East Africa , more precisely from the region of today's Tanzania . After the First World War, he publicly discussed and criticized racism and violence against the colonized in Germany. Mdachi bin Scharifu is one of the first black political activists in Germany.

Activity as a language lecturer at the seminar for oriental languages

Madachi bin Scharifu worked from 1907 to 1912 for the German colonial administration in what is now Tanzania. In 1913 he came to Berlin, where he worked as a language lecturer at the Seminar for Oriental Languages (SOS) at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität . The institute was founded in 1887 with the motivation to teach languages ​​and cultural studies to those who campaigned for the then German Empire and its imperial and colonial policies. Bin Sharifu's job was to teach the language, train in regional studies and also provide information for ethnographic studies.

Resistance to poor working conditions

The African lecturers worked under significantly worse conditions than the “regular” employees. They had fixed-term contracts and did not appear at all on the institute's establishment plans. When the economic situation worsened during the First World War, the "regular" employees received financial compensation for the high inflation rate in order to be able to continue to secure their livelihood. The African lecturers were exempt from this payment. Because of this, it became increasingly difficult for them to secure their livelihood through work.

Mdachi bin Sharifu, together with Halidi bin Kiramas, defended himself against this by sending several letters to the director of the SOS and the Reich Colonial Office to draw attention to the unequal treatment, but without success. The request to leave Germany and return to East Africa was also not granted. He litigated for two years with the support of a lawyer in order to still receive the inflation allowances to which he was entitled and to be able to travel back at the expense of the Reich Colonial Office. For the German authorities and courts, it was a novelty that a black person defended himself and claimed the rule of law for himself or claimed the same rights as were valid for white people. In the court hearings, he and his colleague also addressed the racist degradation in the SOS and the treatment as "colonial subjects", which they rejected.

Lecture tour on German colonial policy 1919

Mdachi Bin Sharifu not only fought for his labor rights, but also became involved in the discussion of German colonial policy following the Treaty of Versailles after the First World War . On August 15, 1919, he spoke with Hans Paasche and Hellmuth von Gerlach in Berlin at an event entitled “The Future of Africa”. In his speech, Bin Sharifu thematized the excesses of violence, cruelty and punitive practices of the German colonial staff against the black colonized and also denied the system of forced labor that had been installed in the German colonies. He repeated this lecture again in Berlin in September 1919 and also traveled to Hamburg, Erfurt and Cottbus on the subject. With reference to colonial policy, but also with reference to his experiences in the SOS, he demanded: "Treat us like human children with equal rights!"

His speeches were noticed publicly, and the newspapers reported about them. Sometimes derogatory and racist reports appear, but sometimes - as in Erfurt - reference was made to the reported actions of the German colonial personnel.

Mdachi Bin Sharifu wanted to defend himself against a particularly derogatory article from the Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung , but this was unsuccessful. Representatives of the SOS and the Imperial Colonial Office tried to intimidate Mdachi bin Sharifu and threatened with consequences. They did not consider it legitimate for black people to claim rights for themselves, but continued to see them as "colonial subjects". Bin Sharifu, however, decided to continue campaigning for his rights and for equality.

In August 1920 he left Germany and traveled by ship from Genoa to East Africa.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Black is capitalized here and white italic because it is not about the color, but about the assignment of a social position
  2. ↑ Stefan Gerbing: “Free man” or “German African”? Political interventions between the November Revolution and the Weimar Republic . In: Oumar Diallo and Joachim Zeller (eds.): Black Berlin. The German metropolis and its African diaspora, past and present. metropol, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-86331-132-2 , p. 114 .
  3. ↑ “Free man” or “German African”? Political Interventions between the November Revolution and the Weimar Republic, p. 114
  4. ↑ “Free man” or “German African”? Political Interventions between the November Revolution and the Weimar Republic, p. 115
  5. ↑ “Free man” or “German African”? Political interventions between the November Revolution and the Weimar Republic
  6. ↑ “Free man” or “German African”? Political Interventions between the November Revolution and the Weimar Republic, pp. 115/116
  7. ↑ “Free man” or “German African”? Political interventions between the November Revolution and the Weimar Republic
  8. ↑ “Free man” or “German African”? Political Interventions between the November Revolution and the Weimar Republic, p. 116
  9. ↑ “Free man” or “German African”? Political Interventions between the November Revolution and the Weimar Republic, p. 117
  10. ^ Afro-German activism. Mdachi bin Sharifu speaks about “Our colonial past” in the Kaisersaal in Erfurt. In: Decolonize Erfurt. September 29, 2019, accessed on February 7, 2020 (German).
  11. ↑ Stefan Gerbing: “Free man” or “German African”? Political Interventions between the November Revolution and the Weimar Republic, p. 118
  12. ^ Afro-German activism. Mdachi bin Sharifu speaks about “Our colonial past” in the Kaisersaal in Erfurt. In: Decolonize Erfurt. September 29, 2019, accessed on February 7, 2020 (German).
  13. ↑ Stefan Gerbing: “Free man” or “German African”? Political Interventions between the November Revolution and the Weimar Republic, p. 119
personal data
SURNAME Sharifu, Mdachi am
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Tanzanian critic of the racism of German colonial rule in Germany
DATE OF BIRTH 18th century
DATE OF DEATH 19th century