The Prenzlauer Berger Victor Bell

Victor Bell was born on 15 July 1890 in the city of Douala (also Douala) in the then German colony of Cameroon. [i] He was probably an adopted son or grandson of Ndumbe Lobe Bell (1823–1897), one of the most important rulers of the Duala. [ii]

Living in Prenzlauer Berg

Victor Bell came to Berlin around 1908 at the age of about 18. Although the German Reich did not see itself as a country of immigration at that time, there was immigration from the colonies. Among others, young people – mainly men – from influential families came to Germany for education, others came as employees of merchants or colonial officials, as performers for so-called "Völkerschau" or as travellers or sailors.

The financial and legal situation of colonial migrants in Germany was usually precarious. Permanent immigration of people from the colonies was a de facto reality, but not desired by the authorities. They rarely succeeded in obtaining German citizenship. In Germany, they were considered "members of protected areas", had no right to vote and no access to social insurance.

Victor Bell lived from 1917 until his death in 1952 at Driesener Straße 4 in Prenzlauer Berg, on the first floor of the Secret Annex. For most of his life, for about 35 years, Victor Bell was a Prenzlauer Berger. Several other people from Cameroon lived here in Prenzlauer Berg, for example Theophilus Wonja Michael (1879–1934) with his family, including at Mühlhauser Straße 2 and Prenzlauer Allee 226.[iii]

In December 1919, Victor Bell and Alwine married Wilhelmine Schreiber, née Liepert (1878–1947). Alwine Bell was 12 years older than Victor Bell, came from Berlin, was a worker and had already divorced in her first marriage. According to the current state of research, the marriage remained childless. The marriage was obviously concluded without any problems. However, this was not a matter of course. Long before the "Nuremberg Laws" of the National Socialists, there was already a broad debate about so-called "mixed marriages" between "colonial subjects" and Germans. This highly racist and sexist debate showed couples who wanted to marry that their union was considered undesirable by many. [iv]

In his first new years in Berlin, Victor Bell worked in a variety of professions. Since 1917, his job title has always been (film) actor or artist. Finding permanent employment was usually difficult for colonial migrants. Only a few permanently practiced a so-called bourgeois profession (craftsmen, small entrepreneurs). In times of crisis, they were often the first to be dismissed. Many therefore switched to artistic professions, becoming actors or musicians.

It is not easy to prove in which films Victor Bell starred, because minor actors were only very rarely listed in the cast lists or named in the credits of the films. It is proven, for example, that Victor Bell appeared as "Tochtili" in "The Desert Grave" in 1920 and in the adventure film "The Island of the Lost" the following year. In addition, Victor Bell acted on Berlin theater stages and he acted as an actor in so-called "Völkerschau". [v]

Political commitment

After the First World War, Victor Bell was involved in several associations and initiatives that campaigned for the rights of Black people in Germany. In 1918, he was involved in the founding of the "African Relief Association". [vi] He also signed the petition initiated by Martin Dibobe (Quane a Dibobe) (1876–after 1922), which was addressed to the Weimar National Assembly in June 1919. Dibobe was also from Cameroon and had lived in Berlin since 1896, including at Kuglerstraße 44 in Prenzlauer Berg. In the petition, the signatories pledged their loyal support for the young German Republic, but protested against the exploitation of the colonies and the incapacitation of the people there. Victor Bell signed the petition second, directly under Martin Dibobe and, unlike most of the other signatories, with a full address. [vii]

With the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles, the German Reich lost all its colonies. Victor Bell remained in Berlin, although the legal and economic situation of most colonial migrants hardly improved, even in the Weimar Republic. [viii]

In September 1929, Victor Bell became president of the "League for the Defense of the N[...]rasse e. V." (LzVdN). The League combined the concerns of a local self-help group with a radical anti-colonial claim and was also strongly inspired by the Communist International (Comintern). Although Victor Bell was president of the LzVdN, the main actor was Joseph Ekwe Bilé (1892–1959). The League formulated an anti-racist, anti-colonial program, demanded the right of self-determination of African countries and the end of colonialism, as well as the worldwide equality of Black people. Contacts with American civil rights activists were important to Victor Bell. He published several articles and letters to the editor in African-American newspapers. [ix]

The rule of the National Socialists

When the National Socialists came to power in Germany, Joseph Bilé was in Moscow and he understandably did not return to Berlin. Victor Bell, on the other hand, remained in Berlin and had to answer to the SA about the LzVdN and the whereabouts of its members. [x]

The rule of the National Socialists meant drastic legal and economic restrictions for Black people. Their career opportunities deteriorated massively. Many passports were confiscated, so that people became stateless. The National Socialists promoted racist anthropological "research" and probably had hundreds of forced sterilizations carried out without a legal basis, especially on young Afro-Germans. Some Black people were deported to concentration camps and murdered there. [xi]

In Germany, after 1933, all film actors had to be members of the so-called Reich Film Chamber. Proof of "German" descent was mandatory for joining. Africans and Afro-Germans were not admitted to the Reich Film Chamber any more than Jews. Nevertheless, numerous films were made during the National Socialist era with the participation of Black people.

Thus, despite repression, Victor Bell initially continued his artistic activity. In February 1934, he sang songs in Douala for the Institute for Sound Research. Textual analyses show that some of them process historical experiences with colonialism and exploitation. They can be read as a political message and as an expression of his "personal identity". [xii]

From 1939 onwards, the National Socialists tried to prohibit Black people from appearing in public. [xiii] However, this ban apparently prevailed only slowly. Victor Bell, for example, appeared in the crime comedy "Nanu, Sie kennen Korff noch nicht?" in 1938. He was also involved in the shooting of the two National Socialist colonial propaganda films "Carl Peters" (1940/41)[xiv] and "Ohm Krüger" (1941)[xv]. The last film recordings of Victor Bell about which we have evidence took place in Rome in the summer of 1941, when he played a traffic policeman in the film "Gone with Fate". [xvi]

Unfortunately, we have no sources on Victor Bell from the last years of the war. We do not know exactly how he and his wife survived the war, how they earned their living and how they experienced the end of the war. Nothing is known about Victor Bell's last years after the war in the Soviet-occupied part of the city and in the newly founded GDR. Alwine Bell died in 1947 and five years later Victor Bell died in his apartment at Driesener Straße 4 in Prenzlauer Berg.