The German Colonial Film Company

Until the start of talkies, Friedrichstrasse represented Berlin as an international film location. ^[1] In addition to renowned film companies such as Léon Gaumont, Pathé Frères, Eclipse or Deutsche Bioscope, the office of the Deutsche Kolonial-Filmgesellschaft mbH, or Deuko for short, was found in today's Kreuzberg from 1917. With it a new genre emerged: the fictional colonial propaganda film. However, the films were not produced in the colonies, but in Berlin. With the outbreak of the First World War on August 1, 1914, the production conditions had changed – the naval blockade of the British Navy cut off Germany from the overseas territories. Until then, so-called actualities and travel pictures, ie early forms of documentary film, had been produced in the German colonies. The Kreuzberg Deuko, on the other hand, relied on the personal drama of Germans in the colonies with their films. [2]

The Berlin businessmen Martin Steinke, Alfred Leopold and Karl Karalus signed the articles of association on March 20, 1917 with share capital of 60,000 marks; the entry in the commercial register took place in the following month, April 27, 1917. Martin Steinke was primarily responsible for the company after Leopold and Karalus left in 1917 and 1918. Deuko initially had its office at Friedrichstrasse 235 and moved to Friedrichstrasse 5- 6 in May. In the Deuko, the efforts of the colonial private sector to establish their own film propaganda came to fruition – independent of state propaganda institutions such as the state-affiliated German Photo Society (DLG / DEULIG) or the Image and Film Office (BUFA), which was subordinate to the top military command.

The establishment of the Deuko went hand in hand with a discussion within the DKG about colonial film propaganda. The entry into the commercial register took place on the same day as the decision of the DKG not to participate financially in the establishment of a "colonial film company" for the time being, but to act as an important cooperation partner for possible film projects. [3] In September 1917 Steinke described the goals of the Deuko in the Deutsche Kolonialzeitung , the mouthpiece of the colonial society. In contrast to foreign inflammatory films, according to Steinke, which appealed to the low instincts of the audience, DEUKO wanted to do "cultural work". [4]Since "colonies are of tremendous importance for the homeland", the Deuko intends to produce "colonial film dramas with exciting content and healthy tendencies". [5]

By the end of its activity in 1919, the Deuko had realized eight film projects: Der Verräter [6] , Farmer Borchardt [7] , an animation film for the colonial warrior donation [8] , The last moment [9] , The heroine of Paratau [10 ] , The End of Alma Bonar [11] , The Prisoner of Dahomey [12] and a humorous cartoon [13] . Only The Last Moment is still preserved today, but even with this film the last film role is missing. This film does not take place in the colonies, but the colonial areas are thematized as a place of refuge in the "criminal society drama". [14]Three films are accessible via reviews in the film press: The Traitor, Farmer Borchardt and The Prisoner of Dahomey. The plot of The End of Alma Bonar is not known at all. The animated film, which will be shown on 17.-18. August 1918 was produced and should help, donations for colonial warriors, probably had something to do with the colonies. In the case of The Last Moment and The Heroine of Paratau, a reference is implied indirectly. According to an advertisement in the film magazine Der Film, one of the leading actresses in The Heldin von Paratau was a "Meg Gehns", which was very likely Emma Augusta (Meg) Gehrts (1891-1966). In their book Die Weisse Göttin der Wangora / A Camera Actress in the Wilds of Togolandshe reports on film work in Paratau (today Paratao in Togo) [15] . It cannot be ruled out that Die Heldin von Paratau is identical to an older production or that it is the remake of a film that Gehrt's husband, the director Hans Schomburgk, shot during his stay in Togo in 1914.

The Deuko's first feature film, The Traitor, which was released in September 1917, aimed at anti-British propaganda. It tells the story of the young Englishman Smith, who falls in love with the daughter (Else Roscher) of a German businessman and farm owner in German South West Africa (DSWA) during peacetime. Smith marries the girl, moves to German-Südwest and becomes the manager of his father-in-law's farm. After moving to Africa, he neglected his young wife, but intensified contacts with his British neighbors. The farm's German assistant telegraphed to Germany and reported the strange events. The father-in-law's nephew is sent to the colony to review Smith's work. When the war breaks out, Smith's cover is blown. He's a spy and tried to transfer the property of his father-in-law to the British side. He dies in a motorboat chase on the Orange River. The plot not only put the German colonies on the agenda, but also showed the front in Africa, where German soil was to be defended against the British.

The second Deuko production was about the cohesion of women and men under war conditions. The film was set in DSWA in 1904-08 at the time of the Herero War. The film was not only able to appeal to supposedly German virtues such as loyalty and perseverance, but at the same time was a reminder of the last war won by the German military. Farmer Borchardt appeared in March 1918 and promised in his advertisement: "Effective !! Highest tension until the end! ". [16]After separating from her fiancé, the young Agnes (Frydel Fredy) marries the farmer Borchardt (Ferdinand Bonn) and moves with him to "Southwest". Although they lead a carefree life, the young woman cannot forget her first fiancé. After the death of her child, she feels lonely and gets back to her old lover, who now works for the government in the colony. Borchardt discovers secret love and sends them both away.

In the meantime the Herero war has started. Agnes returns to Borchardt's farm. Shortly afterwards, the Herero attack. Borchardt desperately wants to save his wife from possible atrocities by the attacking enemies and shoots at her. But the protection troops arrive and save the farm. Borchardt believes he killed his wife and becomes depressed. But Agnes recovers and they begin a new life together. Farmer Borchardt had its premiere on March 10, 1918 in the famous marble house at Kurfürstendamm 236 and was successful at home and abroad. Film images in the press show that the production used black actors to portray the acts of war. Even if nothing is known about the individual actors and extras,

The actors of African origin were even decisive for the Deuko's third film. The success of Farmer Borchardt enabled the Deuko to produce an even larger film, The Prisoner of Dahomey, which would also be the last film. This film was clearly anti-French propaganda. It was based on a script by the colonial writer Lene Haase and told the story of the German planter Burgsdorf (Fritz Delius), who was taken prisoner by the French army at the beginning of the First World War. In the prison camp in Dahomey (in what is now Benin), Burgsdorf and his comrades suffer from the sadistic excesses of the French commandant (Friedrich Kühne). Burgsdorf does not rebel at first and tries to make the best of his situation. Ultimately, however, he demands fair treatment for the prisoners, for which he is to be punished with the hippopotamus whip. A black soldier is assigned to do this, but he defies the order and is killed by the captain. Soon after, Burgsdorf is tortured to the point of unconsciousness. An employee of the commandant's wife takes care of him and gives him a mysterious protective potion that puts him into a death-like sleep. He is pronounced dead and buried. He is then brought back to life by means of an antidote and returns to the camp as a living dead every night, where he gradually kills the black guards. In the meantime, Burgsdorf and the camp commandant's wife have fallen in love. When the commander discovers the relationship he tries to kill Burgsdorf. The camp commandant dies on a dramatic chase. Burgsdorf and his lover leave Africa and start a new life in Switzerland.

The Prisoner of Dahomey has not survived, and the few reviews of the film provide only fragmentary information about the making of the film. The screenplay for the film was written by Lene (Lena) Haase, who had made a name for herself as a colonial writer in the years before with novels such as Raggy's Journey to the Southwest (1910), Through Unknown Cameroon: Contributions to German Cultural Work in Africa (1915) and My Black Brothers: Stories from the Urwald (1916). [17] Married to a district doctor working in the German colony of Cameroon, she vividly conveyed white colonial life. The story of the farmer Burgsdorf was supposedly based on actual experiences, which, however, seemed little credible to the critics in view of Burgsdorf's apparent death, resurrection and campaign of revenge. [18] For the German colonial lobby, however, such a mixture of fact and fiction was an effective means of conducting colonial propaganda among the general public.

The limited availability of sources does not allow for a conclusive analysis and interpretation of the film. What is remarkable about Haase's screenplay, however, is the construction of an anti-French alliance between African voodoo culture and German resistance. Contrary to the colonial missionary ideology, which regarded Africans as uneducated children who had to be raised to a higher, Christian level of civilization, in the film it is the foreign, unchristian knowledge that proves to be decisive for Burgsdorf's successful campaign of revenge. It is true that his black rescuer appears only as a vicarious agent and remains in the colonial stereotype of the "noble savages". Her ritual knowledge, on the other hand, is decisive for Burgsdorf's victory against his tormentors. The Living Dead Man in Haase's screenplay shows a remarkable parallel with the practices of the Haitian voodoo cult of the zombi corps cadavre, in which control over a person is gained by means of poisons and antidotes. Burgsdorf's adversary, the French camp commander, was described by the film press as a "German-eater". [19] This enemy man-eater could only be dealt with with the help of ritual but allied forces.

On closer inspection, the alliance against the inhuman French enemy, under which Africans and Germans suffer together, proves to be fragile. Burgsdorf's campaign of revenge is decisively directed against the black guards, played by interned African soldiers who served as extras in the film. The French camp commander, on the other hand, does not die at Burgsdorf's hand, but sinks into a swamp in pursuit of his wife and her lover Burgsdorf. Other solidarities shine through here, which are also evident when Burgsdorf returns to Europe with a French woman at the end.

Since filming in the colonies was no longer possible, the Deuko had to be inventive in the design of its feature films and create a setting similar to that of the colonies. Under the auspices of the Reich Colonial Office, which supported the production with props and extras, the interior shots were shot in the Berlin studios, the exterior shots in the vicinity of Berlin. Critics praised the Deuko for the clever selection of locations that feigned "reality". [20] The Traitor contained original footage from the colonies, which was given to Deuko by the DKG. [21] In the case of The Prisoner of Dahomey, some of the props were provided by the Ethnological Museum in Berlin, but the aforementioned hippopotamus whip mysteriously disappeared and could not be returned to the museum.

The Deuko did not have to look long for a suitable and authentic location for the scenes in the prison camp in the film. The good cooperation with the Reich Colonial Office enabled the Deuko to use the events of the war to its advantage. In Berlin-Wünsdorf, in today's Teltow-Fläming district (Brandenburg), the Supreme Army Command had built a prison camp, the so-called "Half Moon Camp", in which captured Muslims were to be indoctrinated in order to later wage a holy war (jihad) against French and English colonial masters. The production of the film was thus based on the perverse logic in which the prisoners had to play the role of the guards, while the German slipped into the role of the internee.

Deuko's close contact with the RKA and the DKG paid off. In recognition of her work, she was awarded 2000 marks by the DKG in April 1918[22], and in addition, the DKG supported Deuko through advertising in its district associations and departments. [23] The initial success made Deuko self-confident and a sought-after partner. In the spring of 1918, Deuko submitted its idea of a reformation of the company to the DKG. The share capital was to be increased to 500,000 marks (in the further course it was to be up to 1.5 million marks[24]). After the end of the war, new productions were to be tackled in the colonies, and a separate studio was to be built, a photocopying plant and an archive for colonial film and culture. [25] However, the new social contract drawn up for this purpose in June 1918 was never implemented, because the positive development of the Deuko ended with the defeat.

The German films have been more successful at the box office than in the film press – where the reactions are mixed. The cinematograph complained that a better director would have made more of the "rich material" in The Traitor. The Lichtbild-Bühne thought that the propaganda goal in Farmer Borchardt was reversed, since the Herero's combativeness did not encourage them to give up their homeland. What would remain would be a sentimental love story. [26] The magazine Der Film , on the other hand, considered the work convincing. [27] The prisoner of Dahomey triggered positive reactions on the political side: the State Secretary of the RKA, Wilhelm Heinrich Solf, congratulated[28] and the members of the colonial movement raved about the excellent workmanship. [29] But the press was not enthusiastic about the film in view of the impending defeat in the war. For the BZ am Mittag , it was a cultureless cultural film. [30] The film harshly judged that one could not get out of the horror when watching the film. The critics in The Film and The Cinematograph were unanimous: it was a hate film that no longer served its purpose. [31] [32]

The film was first banned for children and then completely[33] – for DEUKO, the film became a financial disaster. Contracts concluded with cinemas could not be kept, and in April 1919 the company had to file for bankruptcy due to insolvency, which was rejected due to a lack of assets. For cost reasons, the office was moved from Friedrichstrasse to Potsdamer Straße 140. In May 1919, Baron von Willemoes-Suhm became the main shareholder of Deuko and in January 1921 sole shareholder. In December 1927, however, Deuko was officially deleted from the commercial register. [34]

Despite its short active activity, the Deuko is more than just a marginal note in colonial and film history. The close interlocking of private-sector and colonial political interests and interest groups is evidence of the emerging willingness to establish colonial propaganda film work on a large scale. For Berlin filmmakers, colonial films offered another field of employment, in the case of director Carl Boese it was the springboard to a decades-long career in the film business – also in the later Federal Republic. In 1921, however, Boese initially returned to propagandistic colonial film by directing the openly racist and anti-French film Die schwarze Schmach. The film dealt with the French occupation of the Rhineland, among other things by troops from the African colonies. The focus was on the purity of German women, who were endangered by alleged rape by black occupying soldiers. [35] The film, which has been lost to this day, was released in various cities in April 1921 and caused "packed houses everywhere". [36] In August of that year, the film was banned in order not to further strain the tense German-French relations. Carl Boese continued his filmmaking in the Third Reich and worked as a director until the 1950s. [37]

The films of the Deuko, with their stories of self-sacrificing, good-natured German colonial masters and women, are part of the visual repertoire of German colonial ideology, which was then continued in colonial revisionist films in the 1920s. [38] The motifs have an astonishing continuity to this day [e.g. Our House in Cameroon[39], Dream Ship 33: Namibia[40], Africa, mon Amour[41], My Home Africa[42]].[43][44] The history of the Deuko lasted only a few years, but it exemplifies the combination of colonialism, racism, entertainment and film industry calculations in German history.