Chief Mkwawa's head

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Peter H
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Chief Mkwawa's head

#1

Post by Peter H » 18 Oct 2005, 04:52

http://www.mkwawa.com/germany.asp
After Sergeant Merckel cut off Chief Mkwawa's head, Commander Von Prince sent the skull to Berlin. The skull was then sent and kept at Bremen Anthropological Museum in Bremen.

After Germany lost all her colonies, the Versailles Treaty of June 28, 1919 : Part VIII Article 246 stipulated that the Hehe Chief's skull should be returned to his people.

In 1949 the then Governor of Tanganyika, Sir Edward Twining asked for its official return to Tanganyika.In 1953 he personally went to Bremen with the shape of the skull, cranial measurements and the place where the shot made a hole. He finally found what he was looking for.

On July 9, 1954, fifty six years to the day of Chief Mkwawa's death, Sir Edward Twining handed over his skull to Chief Adam Sapi Mkwawa in a very colouful and a great occasion at Kalenga.
More on Mkwawa here:

http://www.ntz.info/gen/n00957.html#04024

Starting in 1891, Nyamwezi Chief Isike fought the Germans in Tabora region in the Western part of Tanganyika. Defeated in 1892, rather than surrendering, he blew himself up in the armoury of his fort in January 1893.

Trouble flared up north with the Chagga and in central Tanganyika with the Gogo, but two major prolonged wars challenged German rule for years: Mkwawa in southern Hehe land and the famous Maji Maji rebellion which inflamed a quarter of the country for more than a year.

The Germans had occupied Hehe country and following the massacre of a delegation sent by Mkwawa, he retaliated in 1891 by ambushing in Lugalo an armed column headed by Lieutenant von Zeiewski. He seized enough weapons and ammunition to keep up resistance for nearly 3 years during which the Germans prepared their assault: in October 1894 a well-organised expeditionary force under the command of Tom Prince, an English-born German officer, stormed Kalenga, the court town of the Hehe, defeated them and captured the town. Mkwawa escaped and in spite of an enormous reward of 5,000 rupees, he was not betrayed and continued harassing German troops with guerilla actions for 4 years until 1898. Trapped, he shot himself.

The Germans' exultation at this hard-won victory ran so high that they cut off Mkwawa's head which was sent for display to the Bremen Anthropological Museum in Germany, his body being returned to his people for ritual burial. In June 1954 his head was returned and handed over to Mkwawa's grandson. Chief Adam Sapi, who was to become the First Speaker of the independent Tanzania Parliament.

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Chris Dale
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#2

Post by Chris Dale » 18 Oct 2005, 14:55

Thanks for that gruesome story Peter. One usually thinks of blood thristy natives as being the type to take heads of their enemies as trophies of war, not the soldiers of so-called civilized nations. I wonder how the German missionaries explained this episode to the people they were trying to convert to christianity.
Cheers
Chris


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Peter H
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#3

Post by Peter H » 18 Oct 2005, 15:30

Keeping body parts in museums of what was considered the lesser races seems a Victorian era fashion.

King Billy the last full blood Tasmanian male died in 1868 and had his skull removed and sent to the UK.

Truganini the last full blood Tasmanian female,died in 1876,had her skeleton on display at the Tasmanian Museum until 1947.

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Peter H
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#4

Post by Peter H » 18 Oct 2005, 15:46

Interesting that the methodical Germans recorded the flogging of 49,506 natives in DWSA January 1913-March 1914.This form of punishment was cheap and easy to dish out.Black policemen most likely assisted in the task.

Graphic photos of flogging figures:

http://www.klausdierks.com/images/Crame ... ment_1.jpg

http://www.klausdierks.com/images/Crame ... ment_2.jpg

"German State Secretary Wilhelm H Solf states that most "whites" in German South West Africa, especially the farmers, regard the "natives" as "animals" and hold them in contempt, while the "natives", in turn, hate the "whites". Other relations are seemingly non-existent."

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