|
|
|
|
|
"Der Schädel des Negerhäuptlings Mkwawa" (The Skull of Sultan Mkwawa) This was the original title of the novel by Rudolf Frank when first published in 1931 in Berlin. He was incompletely documented about the skull. Probably he had only read the article in the "Nachtausgabe". He did not believe in any historic role of Chief Mkwawa. He was fascinated by the symbolism of the skull. Cordes, one of the figures in the novel speaks out his interpretation: "They have simply used different names. Instead of saying Mkwawa they said, freedom, fatherland, justice; to some they said, Belgrade; to others, vengeance; to others, Little Father Tsar. Instead of Mkwawa they said: civilization, humanity, or even an honourable peace. But it all meant to the same, and out there on the battlefields we have found none of the things we were promised at home: no civilization, no humanity, any more than you, my black brothers, have found the skull of your venerated chief. I've never seen the skull of your king and I can no more give it to you than you can give me German civilization or the dead Frenchman his vengeance or these captured Englishmen the freedom of the sea or Ender there his banners over Belgrade or Emile Albert with his amputated leg the neutrality of Belgium. All of us, black and white, were dragged into the war for an illusion, each of us for a different one, but all those mirages have dissolved in the mists of blood on the battlefields." Jan Kubitzki, the hero of the novel refuses to become a symbol like the skull of Mkwawa, a symbol to induce other people to go to war or to sign war loans. When Jan realized that he should become a "Skull of Mkwawa" he simply disappeared. "Kriegsroman für die junge Generation" (War Novel for the Young Generation) was the second title of the first edition in 1931 with Müller & I. Kiepenheuer in Berlin. The pacifistic ideas of the author in his novel had been hidden behind a title looking pro-war. War novels were very popular at the time. In 1982 when the book was republished with Ravensburger it got as second title "A Novel against War". This it was already in 1931. The reaction of the Nazi-Government in Germany to the book is the prove: Immediately after the Nazis had taken power in 1933 the book "The Skull of Mkwawa" was prohibited and put on "List 1 of Baneful and Undesired Writings" of April 25th 1933, page 39. The novel certainly became one of the many victims of the Burning of Books on May 10 1933. After World War II the book was not to be found in German libraries anymore. The cover of the book had been designed by the Master of the Dessau Bauhaus Laszlo Moholy-Nagy who went to the United States after the Bauhaus was shut down by the Nazi Government. Somewhat peculiar is what happened on June 7th 1933 half a year after the Nazis had taken power. In a Berlin newspaper an article appeared dealing again with Mkwawa's skull. This article mixing truth and lies looked like a news message from London. But it must be considered as some kind of reaction to the now prohibited novel. The paper describes a debate in the Commons which in reality had not taken place now but quite similar to the debate in 1930 with the aim of making the Mkwawa skull look silly and thereby to mock the Versailles Treaty. The article explains that the story of the skull is a myth some centuries old. A British secret service man had used it during WWI to antagonize the natives of Eastern Africa from the Germans. Sir Austen Chamberlain had been induced to the idea of this most ridiculous paragraph 246 in the Versailles Treaty by some delegation from Eastern Africa. In 1930 the Foreign Office had received from the Berlin collections three black people skulls storing them in a safe since then. MP Major Milner, member of the workers party had claimed for the correct fulfilment of this peculiar paragraph of the peace treaty. His claim put forward in all seriousness to build a Royal Commission with Lloyd George and Churchill had been received with general laughter. This fully invented reportage ends with the words: "There still seem to be men in the Commons sticking to a diligent fulfilment of all the clauses of the peace treaty even if these are most curious topics out of reality. " The novel had not been republished till 1982. It was practically lost. All of a sudden the novel was now drawn into actuality again by the debates over the stationing of Pershing rockets in Europe and the peace movement. But the title had to be changed. The word "Negro" (Neger) did not meet the political correctness and could therefore not be used in "Negro chief" (Negerhäuptling). The title of the first chapter "A Boy who forgot his Birthday" (Der Junge, der seinen Geburtstg vergass) became therefore the new non-political title of the book. The American translation solved the problem differently with the title "No Hero for the Kaiser" thereby creating an interesting historical link.
A second change took place in the new edition i.e. the scene in
the military hospital: The German soldier realizing that black
people smell differently Rudolf Frank explains through the words
of his hero Cordes according to the best knowledge of the time and
certainly not racist at all: "Your smell is most probably equally
unpleasant for these black people. It is all a matter of taste
said the monkey dining a louse with great pleasure."
|
