WEBVTT

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[upbeat music]

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These pictures were filmed in 1913.

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They were shot by Hans Schomburgk in Togoland,

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the earliest name of the smallest

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of the German Empires for African colonies.

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German colonial propaganda always proclaims Togo

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to be pacified, pacific, prosperous and profitable.

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A classic line that was repeated for decades

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in the German media and even in schools.

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Initially, I knew a little more

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about my country\'s colonial past than most Germans,

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but these images rose my interest.

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What do they tell us about German Togoland

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and what do they not reveal?

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Until now, hardly anyone in Togo has ever seen these films.

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Known to only a handful of researchers,

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the film material

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was stored across several different archives in Germany,

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two hours of film showing Togo

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under German colonial rule that have survived

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for over a century,

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but I feel it is now time to show these images

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to their rightful owners, the Togolese.

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[waves crashing]

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It was onto a landing stage like this

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that German Hans Schomburgk first set foot in Togo in 1913.

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Born in Hamburg,

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a 33-year-old self-styled Africa researcher

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was also a film director,

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big game hunter and supplier of African wildlife.

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He came to Togo to shoot adventure films, documentaries,

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and reports, his work always reinforcing

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the same colonial ideas.

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[car engine rumbling]

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Starting in Lomé, the Togolese capital,

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we follow the same itinerary

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as the filmmaker, heading north.

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With the help of a mobile cinema,

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we plan to show Schomburgk\'s films

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at their original shooting locations,

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but how will the Togolese respond to the film material?

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Will they even want to revisit

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the country\'s colonial past and risk reopening old wounds?

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[train clattering]

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[train horn honking]

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Schomburgk\'s first stop is Kamina,

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100 miles from the coast and once a construction site

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for a vast intercontinental transmitter station built

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for a German Empire that at that time still

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had ambitious plans for its imperialist expansion.

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[people chattering]
[crickets chirping]

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[birds chirping]

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[person speaking in foreign language]

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Hans Schomburgk uses his stay

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in Kamina to document the construction

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of the radio transmitters.

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This technological marvel was to help the German Empire

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to stay one step ahead of the French and the British

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and the battle for supremacy on the African continent.

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The bosses at breakfast.

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On the left Hans Schomburgk and Meg Gehrts,

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actress of his film dramas.

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On the right, Baron von Codelli, head engineer, friend,

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and the filmmaker\'s financial backer and his wife.

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Von Codelli has managed

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the vast construction site since 1911.

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The project is being completed by the Telefunken company

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on behalf of the German Empire.

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[crickets chirping]

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[people speaking in foreign language]

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[audience applauding]

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The Kamina station would only

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be fully operational for one month.

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To prevent it from falling into the hands

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of approaching British and French troops,

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the Germans decide to destroy it themselves.

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After brief clashes with casualties on both sides,

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Kamina witnesses the first German capitulation

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of the First World War at the end of August, 1914,

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and thus, the beginning of the end

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for the entire German colonial empire.

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[gentle music]

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Schomburgk, Meg Gehrts and the British cameramen head

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to the north of Togo together with dozens of porters.

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They dream of creating a film that will feed

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the European audience\'s appetite for images

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from exotic lands.

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The film is barely completed when it disappears

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during the upheaval of the First World War.

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Schomburgk would remake

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the film seven years later in Germany.

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The title of this new version

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is \"A White Woman among Cannibals.\"

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Meg Gehrts is 22 years old

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and comes from a good family in Hamburg.

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Taken by Schomburgk at the promise of adventures

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in Africa, she turns her hand to acting.

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About her travels in Togo,

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she wrote a report which reflects the language

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and the spirit of the times.

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My part was, of course,

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that of the white goddess.

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I was supposed to have been cast ashore as a babe

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on the coast of Togo and taken up country

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by the savages who found me and who afterwards placed me

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in charge of the principal juju shrine.

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I had grown to womanhood without ever having seen one

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of my own color and race.

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And when a white hunter was taken prisoner

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by the tribe whose high priestess I was,

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I was naturally attracted to him.

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I had to free him from his bonds and guide him

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in a wild flight for freedom over rocks and bushes

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and up hill and down dale.

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[vehicle engines rumbling]
[people chattering]

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Our next stop is Sokodé.

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We had planned a screening at the Cinema Imperial,

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one of Togo\'s last remaining cinemas,

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but we arrived to find that the theater

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has been definitively closed down,

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and that isn\'t our only challenge.

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Although we have been granted permission to film

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and organize screenings by the Minister of Culture in Lomé,

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we have to complete a list

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of additional formalities in every place that we visit.

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We need to register with the relevant prefecture,

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notify the cultural office,

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introduce ourselves to the mayor,

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and consult with the local police.

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Lastly, we must convince the canton\'s chief

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and his council of elders to support our project,

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as well as finding an interpreter who speaks

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the local language.

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In 1913, Schomburgk and Meg Gehrts

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came to Sokodé and Paratao

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for a very specific purpose.

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They wanted to use the legendary cavalry

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of King Uro Dschabo, the ruler of the Chaucho,

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for the horse chase scenes in the adventure films.

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Meg Gehrts words reveal her admiration for this ally

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who was so important to the German rulers.

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The German government has good reason to be grateful

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to Uro Dschabo since it was to his father

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and predecessor that it practically

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owes its possession of Togoland.

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When Dr. Kersting, the founder and pioneer

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of Northern Togo, first entered the country,

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he found it inhabited by many distinct and war-like tribes.

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Following in a small way the example set by Cortés in Mexico

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and by Clive in India,

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he allied himself with the strongest and most warlike

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of the lot, the Chaucho to it.

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Dr. Kersting and the old uro practically subdued

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the whole country and placed it under the German flag.

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[rhythmic music]

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[people chattering]

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Today, Uro Dschabo\'s historical cavalry

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still rides on important occasions

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such as to mark the prayers for Tabaski,

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the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice,

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which is celebrated with great magnificence in Sokodé,

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the center of Islam in Togo.

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[people chattering]

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[rhythmic music]

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[people speaking in foreign language]

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Like Hans Schomburgk

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and Meg Gehrts during their stay in Sokodé,

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we also pay a visit to a high dignitary.

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The 100 year old Mali Ouro Issa-Toure is spiritual leader

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of the Muslim community

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and the city\'s former mayor, welcomes us to his palace.

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To the Mali Ouro, Togo\'s colonial era seems like

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a distant past, but against the backdrop

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of recent social and political protests,

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he\'s quick to challenge younger generations by defending

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a certain deeply rooted idea of authority.

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[person speaking in foreign language]

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[people chattering]
[vehicle engines rumbling]

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As Cinema Imperial doors remain close to us,

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I want to cancel the plan screening

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and continue our journey.

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But the authorities indicate that they are keen

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to have a viewing in Sokodé to show

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the younger generation how things have changed

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in Togo since colonial times.

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[people chattering]
[horn honking]

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[person speaking in foreign language]

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[audience cheering]

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[audience speaking in foreign language]

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[person speaking in foreign language]

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[person speaking in foreign language]

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[people chattering]

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Before leaving Sokodé, we stumbled upon this portrait

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of the last German governor of to Togo.

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I am surprised by this tribute,

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as the Duke of Mecklenburg was accused

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of abusing young girls by Togolese coastal chiefs.

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He was also well known for his exceptional cruelty

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and discrimination of children of mixed racial parentage.

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He continued to defend colonialist views long after

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the German overseas empire ended.

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The Duke was a guest of honor at celebrations

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of Togolese independence in 1960.

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Here we see the Duke of Mecklenburg

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with his spiked helmet, while he was still in post.

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10 months before the end of Germany\'s rule in Togo,

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he welcomes the Secretary of State, Dr. Wilhelm Solf,

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the highest ranking official for German colonial policy

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in Berlin with great fanfare in Lomé.

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In honor of his visit,

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German colonial troops marched with bayoneted rifles

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in hand barefoot.

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And what about these Togolese dignitaries

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that briefly appear in frame?

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What Schomburgk\'s film doesn\'t show is the moment

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where a few boatmen attempt to hand the state secretary

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a petition that begins, \"We the natives of Lomé.\"

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Submissively and in the most deferential tone they call

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for equal rights for Africans and Germans.

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In particular, the abolishment of corporal punishment

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and imprisonment in chains,

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involvement of the Togolese in government affairs,

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lower taxes and unrestricted trade for Togolese merchants.

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But those delivering the petition

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are brusquely dismissed and fobbed off with empty promises.

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Subsequent protests are met with arrests

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and other repressive measures.

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[people chattering]
[objects clattering]

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Throughout her journey, Meg Gehrts shows a keen interest

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in the family life of villages,

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especially the condition of women.

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All the women have to work hard, however,

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and the existence of the married women especially seemed

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to me to be one continuous round of drudgery.

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In fact, the daily life

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of a native wife out here might well serve the advance

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to suffragettes at home as a typical terrible example

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of what my sex has to put up with from tyrant men.

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She has to rise at dawn, sweep out the homestead,

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fetch water from the river, often far away,

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do the scanty family washing, tread out the corn,

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grind it to flour and make it into porridge,

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gather and prepare for food various wild roots,

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herbs and vegetables, cook the family meals,

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wash and tend to children

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and perform 101 other similar duties,

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while her lord and master is, for the most part,

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quietly resting in the shade of the sheltering palm.

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[people chattering]

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[person speaking in foreign language]

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Like Han Schomburgk during his travels,

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we also feel the effects of the Harmattan,

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a wind carrying fine Saharan sand into the Gulf of Guinea.

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Although it makes the intense heat more bearable,

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its yellow fog shrouds everything and acts like

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a filter, which even impacts our filming.

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[television characters speaking in foreign language]

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Is it the Harmattan

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or simply tropical anger that lets us

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give into the temptation of modern day entertainment,

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these TV series

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that flicker all day long across screens

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throughout the globe.

264
00:36:33.540 --> 00:36:37.380
Hopefully, our modest silent film screening will manage

265
00:36:37.380 --> 00:36:39.623
to compete with tonight\'s soap opera.

266
00:36:50.338 --> 00:36:52.921
[gentle music]

267
00:37:33.807 --> 00:37:36.807
[people chattering]

268
00:37:45.144 --> 00:37:48.727
[vehicle engines rumbling]

269
00:37:58.265 --> 00:38:01.265
[people chattering]

270
00:38:28.664 --> 00:38:33.164
[people speaking in foreign language]

271
00:39:22.471 --> 00:39:26.971
[people speaking in foreign language]

272
00:40:13.502 --> 00:40:17.378
[audience applauding]

273
00:40:17.378 --> 00:40:21.878
[person speaking in foreign language]

274
00:40:29.756 --> 00:40:34.256
[person speaking in foreign language]

275
00:41:18.093 --> 00:41:22.593
[person speaking in foreign language]

276
00:41:39.882 --> 00:41:42.259
[audience applauding]

277
00:41:42.259 --> 00:41:46.759
[person speaking in foreign language]

278
00:42:01.620 --> 00:42:03.330
The German government exact

279
00:42:03.330 --> 00:42:06.390
what it\'s called a head tax of six schillings a year

280
00:42:06.390 --> 00:42:08.310
from each native.

281
00:42:08.310 --> 00:42:11.580
The Negroes, who in Togoland are called upon

282
00:42:11.580 --> 00:42:15.390
to either pay the tax in cash or work 12 days

283
00:42:15.390 --> 00:42:18.870
on the government roads, buildings, et cetera.

284
00:42:18.870 --> 00:42:21.390
Now, six schillings sounds a very small sum

285
00:42:21.390 --> 00:42:23.520
to a civilized white man,

286
00:42:23.520 --> 00:42:27.030
but to a semi-white Negro it is of course

287
00:42:27.030 --> 00:42:30.240
an altogether impossible impost.

288
00:42:30.240 --> 00:42:31.950
He has therefore to work it out,

289
00:42:31.950 --> 00:42:35.310
and this means a long journey forward and backward

290
00:42:35.310 --> 00:42:37.440
with their wives and their little ones,

291
00:42:37.440 --> 00:42:41.640
all of which involves considerable hardship and privation.

292
00:42:41.640 --> 00:42:44.970
No wonder he resents the hated impost and tries

293
00:42:44.970 --> 00:42:47.580
to evade it whenever possible,

294
00:42:47.580 --> 00:42:49.800
for the native cannot be made to see

295
00:42:49.800 --> 00:42:51.600
that the work he\'s called upon to do

296
00:42:51.600 --> 00:42:54.510
is for his own benefit, as much as,

297
00:42:54.510 --> 00:42:56.520
and even in a sense more so,

298
00:42:56.520 --> 00:42:58.840
than for that of his white masters.

299
00:43:04.605 --> 00:43:07.605
[crickets chirping]

300
00:43:23.325 --> 00:43:26.075
[rhythmic music]

301
00:43:28.194 --> 00:43:32.611
[person singing in foreign language]

302
00:46:18.076 --> 00:46:21.076
[crickets chirping]

303
00:46:45.119 --> 00:46:48.286
[car engine rumbling]

304
00:46:54.759 --> 00:46:56.610
Schomburgk continues his journey

305
00:46:56.610 --> 00:46:58.620
towards the north.

306
00:46:58.620 --> 00:47:02.370
With the financial backing of the German colonial lobby,

307
00:47:02.370 --> 00:47:06.630
he turns his attention to Togo\'s rich economic resources.

308
00:47:06.630 --> 00:47:09.453
After all, it is known as a model colony.

309
00:47:10.830 --> 00:47:14.703
His films thus focus on the manual production of iron.

310
00:47:18.720 --> 00:47:21.327
But Schomburgk also already senses

311
00:47:21.327 --> 00:47:24.780
that the traditional local products would eventually be

312
00:47:24.780 --> 00:47:28.290
superseded by imported finished goods from Europe

313
00:47:28.290 --> 00:47:29.283
and the US.

314
00:47:30.584 --> 00:47:33.584
[people chattering]

315
00:47:40.890 --> 00:47:43.230
The ore is mined by women.

316
00:47:43.230 --> 00:47:45.990
Besides being a hard occupation,

317
00:47:45.990 --> 00:47:48.480
it is also a dangerous one.

318
00:47:48.480 --> 00:47:52.170
Only a day or so before our visit, one of the miners

319
00:47:52.170 --> 00:47:55.023
had been killed owing to a shaft falling in.

320
00:47:55.980 --> 00:47:59.640
On inquiry I learned that the women were slaves.

321
00:47:59.640 --> 00:48:03.360
I was assured that it was only a mild form of slavery,

322
00:48:03.360 --> 00:48:06.780
a system of contractual labor, and that even

323
00:48:06.780 --> 00:48:10.110
if liberated, they would not go away.

324
00:48:10.110 --> 00:48:14.160
Still, I didn\'t like the idea and the site impressed me

325
00:48:14.160 --> 00:48:18.453
the least favorably of anything that I had seen in Togoland.

326
00:48:21.446 --> 00:48:25.946
[person speaking in foreign language]

327
00:48:39.677 --> 00:48:44.177
[people speaking in foreign language]

328
00:49:29.530 --> 00:49:34.030
[person speaking in foreign language]

329
00:49:51.005 --> 00:49:55.505
[person speaking in foreign language]

330
00:51:12.730 --> 00:51:17.230
[person speaking in foreign language]

331
00:51:54.234 --> 00:51:57.067
[leaves rustling]

332
00:52:05.489 --> 00:52:07.906
[soft music]

333
00:52:49.580 --> 00:52:52.413
[water splashing]

334
00:52:58.994 --> 00:53:01.994
[people chattering]

335
00:53:37.549 --> 00:53:40.382
[water splashing]

336
00:53:56.400 --> 00:53:59.940
In Mango, we utilized our stay to photograph some

337
00:53:59.940 --> 00:54:04.410
of the kind best described as semi-dramatic.

338
00:54:04.410 --> 00:54:07.110
One of these was an attempt to reproduce

339
00:54:07.110 --> 00:54:10.200
what will presently become Togo history.

340
00:54:10.200 --> 00:54:13.800
The incident chosen was the attack on the old station

341
00:54:13.800 --> 00:54:15.993
at Mango by the Chakosi.

342
00:54:17.100 --> 00:54:20.460
Amongst the hundreds of extras, soldiers as well

343
00:54:20.460 --> 00:54:22.020
as natives, who took part

344
00:54:22.020 --> 00:54:25.050
in the film production, were many men who had been

345
00:54:25.050 --> 00:54:27.210
in the actual fighting.

346
00:54:27.210 --> 00:54:29.010
The authorities kindly placed

347
00:54:29.010 --> 00:54:33.273
at our disposal practically the entire Mango garrison.

348
00:54:42.552 --> 00:54:45.385
[leaves rustling]

349
00:54:49.581 --> 00:54:54.081
[person speaking in foreign language]

350
00:55:17.242 --> 00:55:20.242
[people chattering]

351
00:55:24.775 --> 00:55:29.275
[person speaking in foreign language]

352
00:56:01.972 --> 00:56:04.805
[people laughing]

353
00:56:18.499 --> 00:56:21.332
[people laughing]

354
00:56:28.348 --> 00:56:32.848
[people speaking in foreign language]

355
00:56:42.990 --> 00:56:45.120
In addition to a reenactment

356
00:56:45.120 --> 00:56:47.310
of an attack on the colonial post

357
00:56:47.310 --> 00:56:51.630
of Mango, Schomburgk films reports on the consolidation

358
00:56:51.630 --> 00:56:55.380
of Germany\'s colonial rule here as well as life

359
00:56:55.380 --> 00:56:59.943
and activities in what is at the time known as German Sudan.

360
00:57:01.590 --> 00:57:05.370
These documentary fragments are unique among all

361
00:57:05.370 --> 00:57:08.133
the images of Togo\'s colonial past.

362
00:57:08.970 --> 00:57:13.172
They would eventually be used to add even more exoticism

363
00:57:13.172 --> 00:57:16.627
to Schomburgk\'s 1921 melodrama,

364
00:57:16.627 --> 00:57:18.777
\"A White Woman Among Cannibals.\"

365
00:57:21.390 --> 00:57:23.670
Amongst other interesting films

366
00:57:23.670 --> 00:57:26.130
we took at Mango was one showing

367
00:57:26.130 --> 00:57:30.090
the new stone station and process of construction.

368
00:57:30.090 --> 00:57:31.560
The carriers had been carrying

369
00:57:31.560 --> 00:57:33.390
an immense bulk of timber,

370
00:57:33.390 --> 00:57:35.250
hewn in the mountain forest country

371
00:57:35.250 --> 00:57:39.183
many miles away, after it is fashioned for eight whole days.

372
00:57:46.530 --> 00:57:49.140
The skilled masonry work is being done

373
00:57:49.140 --> 00:57:52.320
by long-term prisoners, many of them in chains,

374
00:57:52.320 --> 00:57:54.393
and in charge of armed soldiers.

375
00:57:55.350 --> 00:57:59.043
The head mason, I was informed, was a murderer.

376
00:58:00.586 --> 00:58:03.586
[crickets chirping]

377
00:58:15.603 --> 00:58:20.103
[person speaking in foreign language]

378
00:58:31.843 --> 00:58:36.343
[person speaking in foreign language]

379
00:59:20.607 --> 00:59:23.524
[animals bleating]

380
00:59:43.357 --> 00:59:45.990
[people chattering]

381
00:59:45.990 --> 00:59:49.020
In Mango, we are given the opportunity

382
00:59:49.020 --> 00:59:52.710
to visit one of the seven German cemeteries in Togo,

383
00:59:52.710 --> 00:59:54.617
whose gates are usually closed.

384
01:00:20.590 --> 01:00:25.090
[people speaking in foreign language]

385
01:01:11.577 --> 01:01:16.160
[student speaking in foreign language]

386
01:01:34.351 --> 01:01:39.351
1884, the protectorate treaty, King Mlapa, Gustav Nachtigal,

387
01:01:39.840 --> 01:01:43.050
the man credited as the founder of German Togo...

388
01:01:43.050 --> 01:01:46.560
Word for word, the children recite what generations

389
01:01:46.560 --> 01:01:50.382
of Togolese learned by repetition in primary school,

390
01:01:50.382 --> 01:01:53.253
in French, the country\'s only official language.

391
01:01:59.014 --> 01:02:01.431
[soft music]

392
01:02:21.560 --> 01:02:23.755
Schomburgk and his caravan crossed

393
01:02:23.755 --> 01:02:26.610
the Oti River several times.

394
01:02:26.610 --> 01:02:29.910
Initially, he\'s met with outright hostility

395
01:02:29.910 --> 01:02:31.623
by the local population.

396
01:02:32.490 --> 01:02:36.900
In some places, Schomburgk struggles to recruit porters.

397
01:02:36.900 --> 01:02:40.050
As a former officer in the British colonial police,

398
01:02:40.050 --> 01:02:42.930
he feels he has the authority to arrest

399
01:02:42.930 --> 01:02:45.030
a Konkomba chief who is unable

400
01:02:45.030 --> 01:02:47.943
to provide the requested number of porters.

401
01:02:52.590 --> 01:02:55.440
For many years, punitive expeditions led

402
01:02:55.440 --> 01:02:58.083
by the Germans took place in this region.

403
01:02:59.160 --> 01:03:02.010
Alone in the Battle of Adibo, which took place

404
01:03:02.010 --> 01:03:06.087
in December, 1896, hundreds of poorly equipped Dagomba

405
01:03:06.087 --> 01:03:09.420
and Konkomba fighters died.

406
01:03:09.420 --> 01:03:12.090
They had fearlessly tried to hold the advance

407
01:03:12.090 --> 01:03:15.197
of the much better armed German colonial troops.

408
01:03:18.616 --> 01:03:21.616
[people chattering]

409
01:03:30.804 --> 01:03:35.304
[people speaking in foreign language]

410
01:04:16.922 --> 01:04:21.422
[person speaking in foreign language]

411
01:04:52.041 --> 01:04:56.541
[people speaking in foreign language]

412
01:06:44.315 --> 01:06:48.815
[person speaking in foreign language]

413
01:07:44.725 --> 01:07:49.225
[person speaking in foreign language]

414
01:07:51.361 --> 01:07:54.361
[crickets chirping]

415
01:08:00.877 --> 01:08:02.580
According to legend,

416
01:08:02.580 --> 01:08:06.870
the defeated chiefs sought refuge in this large baobab,

417
01:08:06.870 --> 01:08:08.940
it is said to still bear the marks

418
01:08:08.940 --> 01:08:10.443
of the horse\'s hooves.

419
01:08:22.260 --> 01:08:24.930
After the Battle of Adibo, Yendi,

420
01:08:24.930 --> 01:08:28.740
the capital of the Dagomba kingdom and 50 other villages

421
01:08:28.740 --> 01:08:31.717
in the region were systematically razed.

422
01:08:31.717 --> 01:08:35.640
In the field diary of Valentin Von Massow,

423
01:08:35.640 --> 01:08:38.340
commander of the German colonial troops,

424
01:08:38.340 --> 01:08:40.586
I find the following entries.

425
01:08:40.586 --> 01:08:43.290
[fire crackling]

426
01:08:43.290 --> 01:08:45.903
4th of December, 1896,

427
01:08:46.860 --> 01:08:50.700
a few more volleys of fire and then silence.

428
01:08:50.700 --> 01:08:53.010
Now the work of destruction began,

429
01:08:53.010 --> 01:08:55.200
and soon the flames rose up,

430
01:08:55.200 --> 01:08:57.453
bathing everything in bright light.

431
01:08:58.320 --> 01:09:02.433
That was how it gradually unfolded area by area.

432
01:09:03.690 --> 01:09:06.540
In the foreground, the two platoons that formed

433
01:09:06.540 --> 01:09:08.430
the front line of attack,

434
01:09:08.430 --> 01:09:10.647
then the reserves, and behind them,

435
01:09:10.647 --> 01:09:13.860
the tightly grouped convoy of porters carrying

436
01:09:13.860 --> 01:09:15.690
the wounded and cargo,

437
01:09:15.690 --> 01:09:18.270
and all around the crackling and singing

438
01:09:18.270 --> 01:09:21.690
of the flames, the rolling volleys of fire,

439
01:09:21.690 --> 01:09:23.940
the occasional groaning and braying

440
01:09:23.940 --> 01:09:25.773
of the livestock left behind.

441
01:09:27.420 --> 01:09:29.850
My first thought was to thank God,

442
01:09:29.850 --> 01:09:32.910
for thus far granting the expedition and me

443
01:09:32.910 --> 01:09:34.173
a fortunate journey.

444
01:09:35.490 --> 01:09:40.080
6th of December, Sunday, 7:07.

445
01:09:40.080 --> 01:09:43.683
Leave camp after a night with no enemy disturbances.

446
01:09:44.640 --> 01:09:49.640
8:20, first stop at Pangara, Pangara turned to ash.

447
01:09:49.860 --> 01:09:53.520
2:25 in the afternoon, onward march,

448
01:09:53.520 --> 01:09:55.860
arrive at the aforementioned town.

449
01:09:55.860 --> 01:09:59.913
2:45, burnt it to the ground and take a woman captive.

450
01:10:00.960 --> 01:10:05.960
Around 4:30, I arrive at Wapuli, set up the usual camp,

451
01:10:06.180 --> 01:10:08.790
have the village plundered and burnt to the ground.

452
01:10:08.790 --> 01:10:10.533
Another woman taken captive.

453
01:10:11.550 --> 01:10:15.510
Wapuli will always remain a painful memory.

454
01:10:15.510 --> 01:10:17.880
In the night, around 2:00 AM,

455
01:10:17.880 --> 01:10:20.673
my poor, faithful dog, Bobby, died.

456
01:10:30.120 --> 01:10:31.364
Suddenly sounded ahead of us

457
01:10:31.364 --> 01:10:35.070
a most terrific din and presently there came inside

458
01:10:35.070 --> 01:10:37.800
an immense crowd of Konkomba people,

459
01:10:37.800 --> 01:10:41.760
who advanced towards us leaping and yelling and brandishing

460
01:10:41.760 --> 01:10:44.670
in the air long bows and barbed arrows.

461
01:10:44.670 --> 01:10:47.343
The latter, I was informed, poisoned.

462
01:10:48.210 --> 01:10:51.243
It was a most imposing, barbaric sight.

463
01:10:52.230 --> 01:10:54.990
I confessed to having been a wee bit frightened

464
01:10:54.990 --> 01:10:57.630
at first, until Schomburgk assured me

465
01:10:57.630 --> 01:11:00.270
that this was merely their way of saluting

466
01:11:00.270 --> 01:11:03.300
an honored guest, and that the honored guest

467
01:11:03.300 --> 01:11:05.580
on this occasion was myself,

468
01:11:05.580 --> 01:11:08.250
the first white woman who had ever adventured herself

469
01:11:08.250 --> 01:11:10.473
within the confines of their country.

470
01:11:14.940 --> 01:11:16.560
This was the first time

471
01:11:16.560 --> 01:11:19.890
I had ever met any real full-blooded Konkomba,

472
01:11:19.890 --> 01:11:21.450
and I was greatly struck

473
01:11:21.450 --> 01:11:25.680
with the appearance: tall, splendidly proportioned,

474
01:11:25.680 --> 01:11:28.200
and a fierce and war-like aspect.

475
01:11:28.200 --> 01:11:31.440
They carried themselves with a grace and dignity,

476
01:11:31.440 --> 01:11:33.243
one could not help admiring.

477
01:11:41.801 --> 01:11:44.218
[soft music]

478
01:12:01.013 --> 01:12:04.013
[people chattering]

479
01:12:05.070 --> 01:12:06.503
At each of our screenings

480
01:12:06.503 --> 01:12:09.930
the audience appear disappointed not to be able to hear

481
01:12:09.930 --> 01:12:12.330
the Konkomba\'s voices.

482
01:12:12.330 --> 01:12:15.630
Schomburgk had them pose in front of his camera

483
01:12:15.630 --> 01:12:18.330
so that they could speak to the audience,

484
01:12:18.330 --> 01:12:21.183
an audience both distant and unknown.

485
01:12:22.350 --> 01:12:25.440
Back then, the interpreters refused to reveal

486
01:12:25.440 --> 01:12:26.940
to the filmmaker just

487
01:12:26.940 --> 01:12:29.250
what the dauntless warriors were saying,

488
01:12:29.250 --> 01:12:30.933
perhaps out of politeness.

489
01:12:31.890 --> 01:12:33.870
Will we manage to decipher what they

490
01:12:33.870 --> 01:12:36.383
had to tell us more than a century later?

491
01:14:30.468 --> 01:14:33.968
[vehicle engine rumbling]

492
01:14:44.430 --> 01:14:47.670
After a four hour drive across 25 miles

493
01:14:47.670 --> 01:14:51.390
of muddy tracks towards the end of the rainy season,

494
01:14:51.390 --> 01:14:54.780
we arrive at the small village of Iboubou.

495
01:14:54.780 --> 01:14:58.050
It lies at the heart of the Konkomba people\'s land,

496
01:14:58.050 --> 01:15:01.067
which is now divided by the Togo-Ghana border.

497
01:15:01.912 --> 01:15:06.912
[upbeat music]
[people chattering]

498
01:15:37.498 --> 01:15:42.498
[people laughing]
[people chattering]

499
01:16:06.986 --> 01:16:11.486
[person speaking in foreign language]

500
01:16:16.834 --> 01:16:19.834
[people chattering]

501
01:16:27.648 --> 01:16:32.148
[person speaking in foreign language]

502
01:16:48.617 --> 01:16:51.617
[people chattering]

503
01:16:58.709 --> 01:17:01.459
[people singing]

504
01:17:24.519 --> 01:17:27.269
[rhythmic music]

505
01:19:07.763 --> 01:19:10.763
[people chattering]

506
01:19:20.233 --> 01:19:23.733
[vehicle engine rumbling]

507
01:19:25.757 --> 01:19:27.447
The land of the Konkomba

508
01:19:27.447 --> 01:19:30.820
is already on the return leg of Hans Schomburgk

509
01:19:30.820 --> 01:19:32.790
and Meg Gehrts\'s journey.

510
01:19:32.790 --> 01:19:35.856
From Lomé, they will return to Europe

511
01:19:35.856 --> 01:19:39.240
where they arrive four months before the outbreak

512
01:19:39.240 --> 01:19:40.653
of the First World War.

513
01:19:41.610 --> 01:19:43.803
They will never travel to Togo again.

514
01:19:44.970 --> 01:19:48.240
All their adventure films shot in Africa remain missing

515
01:19:48.240 --> 01:19:49.087
to this day.

516
01:19:59.238 --> 01:20:02.238
[people chattering]

517
01:20:24.676 --> 01:20:28.176
[vehicle engine rumbling]

518
01:20:29.750 --> 01:20:34.750
[people on television speaking in foreign language]

519
01:21:22.406 --> 01:21:24.823
[soft music]

520
01:21:32.071 --> 01:21:37.071
[people on television speaking in foreign language]

521
01:22:14.854 --> 01:22:17.604
[waves crashing]

522
01:22:22.774 --> 01:22:24.540
What is the historical basis

523
01:22:24.540 --> 01:22:28.200
for this proclaimed solidarity with Germany?

524
01:22:28.200 --> 01:22:30.060
The protectorate treaty signed

525
01:22:30.060 --> 01:22:33.240
in Baguida in July, 1884,

526
01:22:33.240 --> 01:22:36.180
is commonly understood to have laid the foundation

527
01:22:36.180 --> 01:22:39.693
for German Togoland and what would later become Togo.

528
01:22:42.750 --> 01:22:45.240
The signing of this treaty was preceded

529
01:22:45.240 --> 01:22:47.433
by violent military attacks.

530
01:22:48.750 --> 01:22:52.230
Five months earlier, this beach at Aneho

531
01:22:52.230 --> 01:22:56.100
witnessed numerous key events in just a single day:

532
01:22:56.100 --> 01:22:59.970
the arrival of the Imperial Corvette SMS Sophie,

533
01:22:59.970 --> 01:23:03.300
the disembarkation of 100 German Marines,

534
01:23:03.300 --> 01:23:06.480
the abduction of local dignitaries from Aneho

535
01:23:06.480 --> 01:23:08.160
who were taken to Germany,

536
01:23:08.160 --> 01:23:10.503
and the killing of one of their relatives.

537
01:23:11.520 --> 01:23:13.980
In the now widely proclaimed story

538
01:23:13.980 --> 01:23:16.470
of how Togo came into being,

539
01:23:16.470 --> 01:23:19.885
these events are usually overlooked even though historians

540
01:23:19.885 --> 01:23:23.520
have long been aware of what took place.

541
01:23:23.520 --> 01:23:27.150
But such gaps in Togolese history telling don\'t stop

542
01:23:27.150 --> 01:23:28.800
the inhabitants of Baguida

543
01:23:28.800 --> 01:23:32.100
from willingly coming together every 5th of July

544
01:23:32.100 --> 01:23:35.220
at the memorial to German-Togolese friendship

545
01:23:35.220 --> 01:23:38.643
to celebrate the anniversary of the protectorate treaty.

546
01:23:44.490 --> 01:23:47.160
Have memories of German colonial rule become

547
01:23:47.160 --> 01:23:48.483
a marketing gimmick?

548
01:23:49.530 --> 01:23:53.190
Take this new brand of beer. It\'s called Djama.

549
01:23:53.190 --> 01:23:57.093
The word used for German in the languages spoken in Togo.

550
01:24:00.450 --> 01:24:05.010
It may also come as a surprise that Togo honors

551
01:24:05.010 --> 01:24:07.620
a controversial German politician,

552
01:24:07.620 --> 01:24:10.050
a certain Franz Josef Strauss,

553
01:24:10.050 --> 01:24:13.770
whose name has turned into Joseph Strauss just

554
01:24:13.770 --> 01:24:15.453
a few hundred meters away.

555
01:24:16.320 --> 01:24:19.113
Joseph Strauss was an Austrian who was a composer.

556
01:24:20.160 --> 01:24:23.040
Their are two names now adorn the same street,

557
01:24:23.040 --> 01:24:26.010
which ends abruptly at a fence marking the border

558
01:24:26.010 --> 01:24:29.043
to Ghana, Togo\'s English speaking neighbor.

559
01:24:32.940 --> 01:24:35.640
Will this arbitrary border, the legacy

560
01:24:35.640 --> 01:24:39.660
of colonial petition, become less burdensome now

561
01:24:39.660 --> 01:24:42.930
that French speaking Togo has joined the Commonwealth,

562
01:24:42.930 --> 01:24:46.817
an association that mainly comprises former British colones?

563
01:24:51.458 --> 01:24:55.041
[vehicle engines rumbling]

564
01:25:17.788 --> 01:25:20.788
[people chattering]

565
01:25:34.230 --> 01:25:38.730
[person speaking in foreign language]

566
01:25:53.850 --> 01:25:56.100
At the end of our filming tour,

567
01:25:56.100 --> 01:25:57.840
we show Schomburgk\'s films

568
01:25:57.840 --> 01:26:00.363
at a cinema effects evening in Lomé.

569
01:26:02.400 --> 01:26:04.800
Young cinema lovers meet here once

570
01:26:04.800 --> 01:26:07.500
each month to discuss a film that deals

571
01:26:07.500 --> 01:26:10.210
with issues relevant to Africa.

572
01:26:10.210 --> 01:26:14.710
[person speaking in foreign language]

573
01:26:39.483 --> 01:26:43.983
[person speaking in foreign language]

574
01:27:05.602 --> 01:27:10.102
[person speaking in foreign language]

575
01:27:22.349 --> 01:27:26.849
[person speaking in foreign language]

576
01:27:59.035 --> 01:28:03.535
[person speaking in foreign language]

577
01:28:34.991 --> 01:28:39.491
[person speaking in foreign language]

578
01:28:43.316 --> 01:28:46.149
[people laughing]

579
01:29:05.007 --> 01:29:09.507
[person speaking in foreign language]

580
01:29:47.790 --> 01:29:52.290
[people speaking in foreign language]

581
01:30:35.392 --> 01:30:38.225
[waves crashing]