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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | A Historiography of German Togoland, or the Rise and Fall of a 'Model Colony' |
Author: | Laumann, Dennis |
Year: | 2003 |
Periodical: | History in Africa |
Volume: | 30 |
Pages: | 195-211 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | German Togoland Germany |
Subjects: | colonialism historiography literature reviews (form) History and Exploration |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/3172089 |
Abstract: | German Togoland, in present-day Togo and Ghana, dates back to February 1884. This bibliographic essay reviewing the literature on German Togoland shows how, since the late 19th century, and through the various eras to the present, the nature of the German occupation of Togoland has been the subject of conflicting interpretations in the secondary sources, largely written by European observers and scholars. Most of these analyses addressed the question of whether German Togoland was a model colony. The German regime's achievements were, however, realized through a combination of forced labour and excessive taxation imposed on the Togolanders. Most German writers and, later, West German writers, have sought to uphold the 'model colony' idea. The East Germans, however, built on the charges first issued by the Allies, which portrayed German colonialism in the worst possible light, and sought to refute the model colony thesis. Non-German scholars may be situated somewhere in the middle, often accepting the idea that Togoland was in a sense a model colony, while also highlighting the negative characteristics of the German occupation. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] |