The Portrayal of the German Colonization of Africa in the Novel Olga by Bernhard Schlink

Abstract

The first part of the novel Olga by Bernhard Schlink takes place in the German Empire (1871–1918), which strived to demonstrate imperial power through colonial expansion into several African territories. The paper provides insight into the novel’s depiction of the colonization of the Herero people in the German South West Africa, now Namibia. It examines the attitudes of German soldiers, who are ideologically full of ideas about the strength, glory and domination of the German people, towards the colonized Africans.
The methodological framework of the paper is based on the postcolonial studies and the work by theoreticians such as Edward Said and Aimé Césaire. The paper follows their definitions of the colonial discourse as a discourse of power and aims to show that the relationship between the belated imperial power of the German Empire and the colonized Africa is depicted as a relationship that German soldiers viewed as an interaction between the civilized and the primitive. Africa is as a construct, similar to the Orient, understood as an ideological counterbalance and a justification of the colonial undertakings. This resulted in the notion that one cannot accept people of colour as human beings and that one must rather conquer them and take their territories, which is an important theme of the novel. The analysis has shown that the main depiction of the events that take place in Africa is presented through conversations and letters that Herbert, a German soldier and thus a representative of the colonizer, wrote to Olga. In accordance with the dominant ideology of his homeland, he describes Africa as exotic, its inhabitants as primitive and animalistic and Germans as their destiny and future. At the same time, he fails to differentiate individual Africans and sees them mostly in the form of dark shapes, being finally able to discern one after the Battle of Waterberg. The battle was the culmination of the conflict and the first genocide of the 20th century, which is also a theme of several other German novels dealing with the colonial past. The descriptions of the exploitation of the African territories and its people, and the dehumanization of the people of colour as the Other are used in the novel Olga to point out the dominant discourses and stereotypes of the imperial period, as well as to show the necessity of a renewed discussion about the horrors of the German colonial past and the need to have a responsible attitude towards the deeds of past generations and the silence of the ones that followed.