History of the Inventor: After the German Reich had abandoned an active colonial policy in the first years of its existence due to foreign policy considerations, this changed in 1884. The colonies Deutsch-Südwestafrika, Togo, Cameroon, Deutsch-Neuguinea, Deutsch-Ostafrika and Samoa, formally referred to as "protectorates", emerged. The governorates of these protectorates established in the following period were first under the control of the Colonial Department in the A u s w ä r t i g e s A m t and finally of the resulting R e i c h s k o l o n i a l a m t . The Kiautschou leasehold in China, acquired in 1898, was subject to the R e i c h s m a r i n e a m t . From the very beginning it was necessary to be able to assert and protect the interests of the empire in the colonies by military force. In the initial phase, this task was performed by ships and landing commands of the Imperial Navy. In the German South Sea colonies this remained so until the end. In the African colonies there was a development of their own. In 1889, a troupe of German volunteers with a contract under an active officer (Captain Curt von François) was formed in D e u t s c h - S ü d w e s t a f r i k a , which was initially only to perform police duties. In 1889, in D e u t s c h - O s t a f r i k a, the Reich Commissioner Captain Herrmann Wissmann set up a troop of recruited Africans to suppress the "Arab Uprising" that broke out in 1888. With the law of 22 March 1891 the "Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Ostafrika" was finally formed from volunteers of the army and navy as well as recruited volunteers, followed by the "Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Südwestafrika" and the "Schutztruppe für Kamerun" with the law of 9 June 1895. A protection force for Togo was planned at times, but was not formed, just as there were no protection forces for German New Guinea or Samoa. Only police troops were formed there. In the respective protectorates the governor held the highest military power, the commander of the protection troop was subordinated to him. The protection troops were responsible for maintaining security and public order. At times the individual protection troops were exclusively occupied with the suppression of insurrections of the indigenous population. To this end, some considerable personnel reinforcements were recruited from Germany. The Schutztruppen were first led by the Reichsmarineamt. With the "Gesetz betreffend die Kaiserlichen Schutztruppen in den Afrikanischen Schutzgebieten und die Wehrpflicht daselbst" of 18 July 1896, the Schutztruppen were subordinated to the Reich Chancellor, administered by the Colonial Department in the Foreign Office. In the Colonial Department, the Department M - Military Administration (Command or High Command of the Protection Forces) was responsible. The Prussian War Ministry (Army Department) took over the organizational support. Command affairs were handled by the Director of the Colonial Department, with Division M as his military staff. With the establishment of the R e i c h s k o l o n i a l a m t by the Most High Decree of 17 May 1907, the command of the Schutztruppen was placed under its control, now as a military command staff with responsible command power. Like the Navy, the Schutztruppen were under the supreme command of the Emperor. Its members were volunteers of the army (or armies of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg) and the navy, who retired from the respective army or navy for the time of their service in the Schutztruppen and then returned there again. The male German population in the protectorates was subject to compulsory military service. The conscripts in the Schutztruppen were able to meet these demands. In 1913 the Schutztruppe included the following personnel: - Command of the Schutztruppe in Berlin: 80 men - Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Ostafrika: 2758 men (266 Germans, 2492 natives) - Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Südwestafrika: 1970 Mann (German) - Schutztruppe für Kamerun: 1471 Mann (171 German, 1300 indigenous) During the Herero Uprising, the Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Südwestafrika's personnel strength in 1907 was approx. 15,000 men. The outbreak of the First World War hit the German colonies unprepared. Defensive measures against other colonial powers had never been seriously considered, the Imperial Government had assumed that in the event of a European conflict the colonies could be kept out of the fighting according to the agreements in the Congo Act of 1885, despite warning voices from the colonies themselves. On 1 August 1914, therefore, only a state of emergency was declared in the protectorates. It was not until mid-August 1914 that mobilization began in the protectorates, but the armed units there (Schutztruppen, police troops, naval units present) were ultimately without a chance compared with the opponents who were far superior in terms of numbers and materials. The following were lost, partly after fierce fighting, partly without a fight: - on 27 August 1914 Togo - on 7 September 1914 Samoa - on 17 September 1914 Deutsch-Neuguinea - on 9 July 1915 Deutsch-Südwestafrika - in February 1916 Cameroon The Kiautschou leasehold area under the control of the Navy had capitulated after heavy fighting on 7 November 1914. It was only in D e u t s c h - O s t a f r i k a that the Schutztruppe was able to hold its ground to the end and thus bind considerable enemy forces. Their commander, Major General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, only laid down his weapons on 25 November 1918 on order from Berlin. Processing note: The stock RW 51 was originally created as stock for the "imperial protection troops and other German land forces overseas" and comprised 29 units. In 2010, the documents of the East Asian Expeditionary Corps were extracted and, together with the corresponding new additions, formed the newly created holdings RW 61. Since then, the holdings of RW 51 have consisted exclusively of documents of the Imperial Protection Forces and were subsequently fundamentally revised and developed further. Some new additions were added. Description of the holdings: The collection contains the documents of the Imperial Schutztruppen for D e u t s c h - S ü d w e s t a f r i k a , D e u t s c h - O s t a f r i k a and Cameroon, as well as the command of the Schutztruppen, as far as they are available in the military archives. Characterization of content: The inventory contains only a few real fact files. It consists above all of a compilation of commandos of the Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Ostafrika from 1907 to 1914, as well as a file of the same commandos with reports of subordinated units and offices from 1916. In addition there are documents on organization and supply in Deutsch-Ostafrika and Deutsch-Südwestafrika and in particular some hand-drawn maps. Only two documents have survived on Cameroon. State of development: The inventory RW 51 was originally created as an inventory for the "imperial protection troops and other German land forces overseas" and comprised 29 units. In 2010, the documents of the East Asian Expeditionary Corps were extracted and, together with the corresponding new additions, formed the newly created holdings RW 61. Since then, the holdings of RW 51 have consisted exclusively of documents of the Imperial Protection Forces and were subsequently fundamentally revised and developed further. Some new additions were added. Pre-archival order: The tradition of the Schutztruppen In the Bundearchiv military archive is purely fragmentary. The Schutztruppen archive in the Heeresarchiv was destroyed during the air raid on Potsdam in April 1945. This applies to the personnel files of the Schutztruppen and to the records in the archives of the Schutztruppen in the colonies themselves. The tradition of the command of the Schutztruppen is essentially in the R 1001 R e i c h s k o l o n i a l a m t . The documents of the protection troops remaining in Africa after the First World War are now in the national archives of Tanzania (Dar es Salaam), Namibia (Windhoek) and Cameroon (Duala). In addition, the Belgian Imperial Archives in Brussels contain documents of the Rwandan Schutztruppen. Films on the documents in Windhoek and Dar es Salaam can be found in the Federal Archives in Berlin. Replacement records of the Schutztruppen and their deployments can be found above all in the documents of the Imperial Navy, which as a rule acted in a supportive capacity or, during uprisings, also issued landing commands. In addition, reference should be made to the tradition of the contingents of protection troops in the respective state archives provided by Bavaria, Saxony and Württemberg. Scope, explanation: 30 AU Citation method: BArch, RW 51/...
History of the Inventory Designer: General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck Life data 20.03.1870 born in Saarlouis 09.03.1964 died in Hamburg Career 1881 Cadet 1884 Main Cadet Institute Groß-Lichterfelde 07.02.1888 Portepee-Fähnrich at the 4.Garderegiment on foot 1889 Sekondeleutnant 1895 Premierleutnant 1900/01 Participation in the Boxer Movement China; Promotion to Captain 1904-1906 Deutsch-Südwestafrika; First Adjutant in the staff of the commander of the Schutztruppe "Lothar von Trotha" and as Company Chief at the suppression of the uprising of the Herero 1906 Kommandierung to the Großer Generalstab 1907 Promotion to Major; Adjutant of the Generalkommando des 11. Army Corps 1909 Commander II Sea Battalions in Wilhelmshaven 1913 Promotion to Lieutenant Colonel 18.10.1903 Commander of the Imperial Protection Corps for Cameroon 13.04.1914 Commander Protection Corps D e u t s c h - O s t a f r i k a 1918 Promotion to Major General Apr. 1919 Command of the Guard Cavalry Shooting Corps under the Marine Division Oct. 1919 Leadership of the Reichswehr Brigade 9 of the "Transitional Army" in Schwerin 1920 Characterisation as Lieutenant General and dismissal from the Reichswehr 1923 Wholesale merchant 1928-1930 Member of Parliament of the conservative German National People's Party in the Reichstag 1930 Change to the People's Conservative Union 1933 State Council in Bremen 27.08.1939 (so called Tannenbergtag) Character of a general of the infantry 1956 Honorary citizen of his birth town Saarlouis Awards 04.11.1916 Pour le Merite 10.10.1917 Eichenlaub zum Pour le Merite 30.01.1920 Ritterkreutz der sächsischen Militär-St.-The estate contains personal papers, documents on military and public honours, private and private correspondence, diary notes and memoirs as well as elaborations on various topics and photographs from the life of General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck (20.3.1870-9.3.1964). The collection documents the personal and military career of Lettow-Vorbecks, including his participation in the Boxer War in China (1901-1904) as an adjutant of the 1st East Asian Infantry Brigade, his deployment in the command of the Schutztruppe für Deutsch-Südwestafrika (1905-1906) and as commander of the Schutztruppe Deutsch-Ostafrika (1914-1918). In addition, Lettow-Vorbeck's activities as a war veteran and member of the Reichstag of the DNVP in the Weimar Republic and the reactions to his death in 1964 will be highlighted, as will his work on colonial history and documentations on political topics from the time of the Weimar Republic, in particular the Reichswehr and the Kapp-Lüttwitz Putsch. References to other holdings, in particular RM 5 - Navy Admiral Staff; RW 51 - Imperial Protection Forces and other Overseas Forces; R 1001 - Reichskolonialamt; R 1002 - Authorities of the former protectorate Deutsch-Südwestafrika; digital photos of Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck from the Federal Archives' image holdings can be found in the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia Content Characterization: Because of its great importance and the intensive demand for it from researchers, the estate was processed and recorded in the archives soon after it was handed over to the Federal Archives at the end of the 1960s. In 2008, the indexing of the holdings was fundamentally revised while retaining the older archival order. Pre-archival order: The estate of Paul von Lettow-Vorbecks was transferred to the Federal Archives in August 1964 by the daughter of Countess Heloise von Rantzau-Pronstorf, who died in the same year. It had initially been deposited there as a deposit, on 31 December 1999 the documents became the property of the Federal Archives. The holdings contain self-testimonies and autobiographical records at various stages of their development; the classification features of the archival indexing could not always be clearly assigned due to the specific character of the documents. Citation style: BArch, N 103/...
Lettow-Vorbeck, Paul vonContains among other things: Uprising in South West Africa (telegram of Kaiser Wilhelm), 28 Apr. 1896 Fulfilment of the duty of the Kaiserl. Protection Force for South West Africa (AKO, copy), 30 March 1897