German Colonialism and National Identity

摘要

According to Dennis Lautnann's essay in this volume, oral historians looking for folk memories of the former German colony of Togoland have noted how the brief era of German rule is associated with, among other things 'order' and 'discipline' (p. 287). The same values, it would appear, have inspired its editors, as each of the twenty-two chapters is more or less of the same length, about ten or eleven pages, although in all cases this number is increased by copious notes and in certain chapters by illustrations. In some cases, this means that it is impossible to do justice to the subject, with Jorg Lehmann's chapter on 'Fraternity, Frenzy, and Genocide in German War Literature 1906-36' providing the prime example of too large a subject being covered in a short space.