Abstract
DISCUSSION of German colonial claims will be clarified by a statement of the policy which would be applied in native administration under racial doctrine, appearing in an official publication of the National Socialist Party—“The Colonial Question and Racial Thought” by Dr. Günther Hecht, an expert of the party on racial problems. As might be anticipated, the principle of segregation, it would appear from a summary of the provisions by the Berlin correspondent of The Times in the issue of December 12, is to be applied stringently, and any attempt to Europeanize or divorce the native from his culture is abrogated: he will neither be baptized, nor will his equality with Europeans be preached. No native will be allowed to leave the German colonies for Europe as either servant, worker, soldier or student, but on the other hand, coloured people will be allowed their full rights of existence in their own homeland, and no more will be demanded from them than they can achieve. No native will be allowed to become a German citizen, but they will nevertheless possess more rights than have been merely promised to them in other colonies. No European matter will be taught in native schools, lest Europe should be presented to them as the peak of cultural development and they should lose faith in their own powers. Local culture, therefore, will be fostered, but side by side with it there will be an introduction to an understanding of European civilization. In principle, higher schools and universities will be closed to natives. Without entering into extended comment on the principles of this policy, beyond noting a commendable adherence to the development of the native through his own culture, it may be questioned what opportunities will be afforded for development towards that self-determination, however remote it may be and whatever its form, which has been formulated as the end of native administration under mandatory policy.
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German Native Policy and Racial Theory. Nature 142, 1069 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/1421069c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1421069c0