Mission money box

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"Nickneger", Offenburg
“Nick negro. Mother and Child ”, Christmas crib figure
Beggar as a donation box on a Christmas crib around 1840 still without mechanical function

Mission money boxes are stationary donation boxes in church institutions. The best known forms are those in which a mechanism represented a person with dark skin (colloquially therefore " Negerle called") moved to Coin gratitude to the head, from which the term Nick Negro developed.

Appearance and function

Mission money boxes consisted of a donation box with a figure that nodded its head when money was thrown in. They were made from wood, plaster of paris, or paper mache . The figure mostly represented a black man , but was also made to depict a Chinese , Indian , Mexican , Indian or even an angel . When a coin was thrown into the box, it first pressed down a metal plate that was connected to the figure's head. This caused the head to vibrate, suggesting a grateful nod. The figure usually turned to missionary represent the population for which was collected. Often edifying sayings were appropriate in the sense of the time, and there was an indication of the collecting organization on the floor. Most of them had an approximately square base with an edge length of 10 to 20 cm and were up to 30 cm high.

Example sayings

  • I was a poor pagan son - now I already know my Savior - I ask everyone to do so - take care of the poor pagans .
  • If you want to send help to the Gentiles, please give me a friendly nod to the poor.
  • Open your hand, Christian child. Bring your little gifts. See to it that we have abundant bread in our homeland.

Historical development

The first figures of this kind were probably made in the Rhön around 1850 . Other sources write of the fact that they were first produced in the Boeblingen district , where pietistic circles collected for the foreign mission early on. They should encourage the general public to donate. From 1886 at the latest, the figures were sold in various sizes for collecting for the mission. They were mostly made in the Franconian-Thuringian region.

Their emergence was directly related to the changing German colonial policy at this time . The missionaries came with the troops at the same time . They should convert the locals to the Christian faith and ensure that they not only serve the Christian churches faithfully, but also the German state. The mission money boxes were used to provide financial support. They were to be found in both Catholic and Protestant churches and in meetinghouses. They were also used for gatherings in offices and shops. There were even copies for private households.

At the time, child-like, underdeveloped peoples were seen in the natives who had to be led to a “higher mind”. The symbolism of the cans assigned them a subordinate and needy position, in which they, as supplicants, showed gratitude to the superior colonial rulers. After the First World War, Germany no longer had any colonies. The heathen mission and with it the collection through the mission money boxes was continued by the churches. In 1962 it was still possible to have a child baptized in Africa with a desired name for 21 DM . As early as the 1930s, the money box was almost exclusively in the nativity scene in the church.

Around 1960, the diocese leaders wrote a circular requesting that the mission money boxes be removed. In the following years they disappeared in attics or in basements or were disposed of with the garbage. At that time, public awareness had changed to such an extent that, within the framework of the church's one-world development policy, the inhabitants of poorer countries were no longer viewed as helpless supplicants, but as partners with equal rights. Today, negroes are seen as a derogatory, racially discriminatory term for black people . While some of the collection boxes were still set up at Christmas cribs in churches in the 1970s, there are only a few newly designed collection boxes with other representations (e.g. angels) that continue the tradition of nodding collectible figures.

As a result, mission money boxes of the original form are rarely found in churches; their placement is controversial. At Christmas 2018, for example, there was a discussion in the press about the nativity scene in a church in Rhineland-Palatinate : On the one hand, the mission money box was rejected as being racist, on the other hand, it was pointed out that it was a tradition that had been known for generations and that is not today political message will be read out more. According to the Baden-Württemberg State Office for Museum Care , the work of the Christian missionaries made a significant contribution to the independence of the African states - and the mission money boxes were a successful instrument for financing this fundraising .

Exhibition and collectibles

Mission money boxes are popular collectibles among private collectors, and they can also be viewed in some museums. A collector from Schönecken has collected a total of more than 2000 savings and collection boxes from the time between the birth of Christ and 1940, including over 130 mission money boxes . For example, they were exhibited in 2014 in the Kreissparkasse in Bitburg .

In January 2017 , mission money boxes were the subject of a special exhibition in the Jexhof Farm Museum , where the Benedictine Congregation of St. Ottilien presented the Africa mission of the Benedictine Congregation and tried to illustrate the life of the missionaries and their support from home. In most diocesan museums , exhibits are shown, for example in Würzburg . In 2013 mission money boxes were traded on eBay at prices between 100 and 300 euros . Plagiarism is made for collectors and it is not always easy to tell the difference from the original.

literature

  • Hans Rudolf Jost (author), Dimitri Horta (illustrator): Nickneger: The image of the black . Zurich: Elster Verlag 2017, ISBN 978-3-906065-51-9 .
  • Klaus Reder: Collection boxes for the mission; a folklore view of the so-called Nickneger . In: The Bavarian Crib Friend; 2011,356, pp. 53-56; 357, pp. 86-88.
  • Walter Heim: Nick negroes and carnival Chinese in German-speaking Switzerland . In: Festschrift 50 years of the Mission Society Bethlehem Immensee. Pp. 451-472. Verlag Schöneck-Beckenried, 1971.
  • Mission money boxes through the ages . Documentation on the exhibition of the Lippische Landeskirche in the theological library of the regional church office in Detmold from June 1st to 18th, 2010.

Web links

Commons : Nickneger  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Nickneger  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
  • spardosen.info ; In the menu, under overall presentation, then mission money boxes, well over 100 different copies are shown (accessed on December 23, 2016)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h New home for old money boxes - Lothar Graff from Schönecken has been collecting for 35 years - His collection also includes the meanwhile frowned upon nick niggers on Volksfreund.de from December 5, 2014; accessed on December 23, 2016
  2. ↑ a b Missionspardosen - a relic of the 20th century on samm-sammler.de; accessed on December 23, 2016
  3. ^ Walter Heim: Nickneger and Carnival Chinese in German-speaking Switzerland . In: Festschrift 50 years of the Mission Society Bethlehem Immensee. Pp. 451-472. Verlag Schöneck-Beckenried, 1971
  4. ↑ From Nickneger to Kenya Donation ; Alb-Bote from December 16, 2014; accessed on December 23, 2016
  5. ↑ a b On the trail of Africa's missionary work , Süddeutsche Zeitung of December 1, 2016; accessed on December 23, 2016
  6. ↑ Overseas Mission: When the Fathers spread the faith in Africa , Münchner Merkur of December 4, 2016; accessed on December 23, 2016
  7. ↑ a b Nickneger mission savings box on the website of the State Office for Museum Care in Baden-Württemberg; accessed on December 23, 2016
  8. ↑ a b Begging machines for the mission in the church newspaper for the Hildesheim diocese of January 2, 2011; accessed on December 23, 2016
  9. ^ Missionssammelbuechse Engel , accessed on January 5, 2017
  10. ↑ https://www.volksfreund.de/region/bitburg/darf-der-nickneger-in-dudeldorf-noch-weiter-nicken_aid-35279225
  11. ^ Colonial Christmas , Süddeutsche Zeitung , December 4, 2016; accessed on December 23, 2016
  12. ↑ The everyday racism on mainpost.de from December 26, 2015; accessed on December 23, 2016
  13. ^ Confrontation with the Nickneger , Mathias Könning in his blog; accessed on December 23, 2016