The skull of Mkwawa in the Treaty of Versailles

The idea after World War I to oblige Germany to return the skull of Mkwawa originates from the then British Administrator of German East Africa H.A. Byatt. He assumed the skull to be in a museum in Berlin. On November 14, 1918 he requested with His Majesty's Principle Secretary of State for the Colonies, Downing Street, London that the return of the skull to be put down in the Treaty of Versailles. Such a return Byatt wrote "would allow the Hehe to bury it with due ceremony in the grave of Mkwawa thereby giving the Hehe full satisfaction as they have been constantly helpful during the war. In their eyes this would be a tangible proof that German power has been completely broken."

The Colonial Officer approved of this suggestion. Under Secretary S. Balfour of the Foreign Office passed it on as an instruction to the Delegation in Versailles. Consultations in the Foreign Office in Berlin on May 16th, 1919 came to the following conclusion: "It is the matter of the skull of the Sultan of Uhehe named Kwave (not Mkwawa) who revolted against the Germans in 1898 and on whose head a bonus of 5'000 Rupees had been put. The head of the slain had been taken to the station by a staff sergeant and probably been buried there. According to the deliberations till today the skull has not been taken to Germany. Further search will be conducted. The results will be reported to Versailles immediately by the Ministry of the Colonies." In the German files of Versailles one can find the remark "German counterproposals: none. Further intentions of the German Government: The skull has never been taken to Germany but has been buried in Iringa (Eastern Africa). Claim not founded."

The fulfillment of this clause of the Versailles Treaty therefore being retarded the British Ambassador in Berlin was instructed to remind it but at the same time to pay attention that he is not tendered some other skull. Finally the German Foreign Ministry submits to the Foreign Office a report dated May 6th, 1920 in which Colonel Ernst Nigmann testifies that he had secretly exchanged the skull of Mkwawa with his family for some other skull. According to another version the skull had been stolen from captain Tom Prince's house and was than buried in Mkwawa's grave. Sir H. A. Byatt refuted both versions most energetically. He reports at length testimonies of African and German witnesses summing up with the bitter remark that "to pretend the skull had been returned is a travesty of facts in an attempt to empty a further clause of the peace-treaty."

The closing word for the moment brought the directive of the Colonial Office of August 22nd 1921 to the Governor of the Tanganyika Territory:". to inform you that in the circumstances I do not propose to take further action in this matter. Signed: Winston S. Churchill."

On December 1930 Charles Williams member of the Lower House asked the Prime Minister whether § 246 of the Treaty of Versailles has been fully executed? He had asked this question following a newspaper hoax in the "Nachtausgabe" Berlin. The British "Daily Express" had taken over the story according to which the German authorities had sent three skulls to London. Foreign Secretary MacDonald Baldwin could only repudiate adding that the whereabouts of the skull of Mkwawa could not yet been determined.