Land & Water 
May- 1 6, 191 8 
German Rule in East Africa 
German Forms of Civil Punishment 
1. Natives hung en masse for causes unknown. 
2. Fsur civil prisoners under an armed escort. 
3. Civil prisoners at work in a field. 
Copyright 
o 
F Gennan rule in South 
Africa much ha.s been 
written. We give an 
opportunity to-day for 
people to behold the 
actual methods by which Germany 
has sought in days of peace to estab- 
lish her ideals of justice'and civilisation, 
andtoinauguratethat superiority of life, 
of which she makes so'proud a boast, 
under the name of Kultiir among the 
native races which have been placed 
under her power by international 
treaties. These photograplis were taken 
in 1914, before war Was declared. The 
first photograph represents a public 
execution ; the cause why sentence 
was passed on these unfortunate men 
we are not in a position to state, but it 
is obvious that. the penalty was executed 
with that "certain degree of frightful- 
ness" which was intended to impress 
the subject people of East Africa in 
the same manner that similar brutality 
was practised in Belgium and else- 
where during the war. The second 
and third photographs represent civil 
prisoners under German rule. In the 
second we see four wretched men with 
forked boughs of trees riveted to their 
necks, under the guardianship of 
natives, armed with guns, some of 
whom are little more than boys. 
Obviously, the armed men do not 
belong to the same tribe as the pris- 
oners ; and it is noticeable that no 
European is in charge of the prisoners. 
To anyone the least familiar with ' 
tribal life in Africa, it is plain that 
here there can be no check upon the 
most callous cruelty. This cruelty is 
even more palpable in the third 
photograph, showing native civil pri- 
soners ; they are chained together by 
the neck as though they were beasts. 
The idea still prevails in some 
quarters — not in many, we admit, 
nowadays — that the German is not 
universally brutal ; that his cruelty is 
due only to a small clique of militarists, 
who practice terrorism as a fine art, 
and that when left to himself the 
German is as kind-hearted as men of 
other nations. Facts are entirely 
against this theory. A German, no 
matter to what class he belongs, is by 
nature a bully. Let any human being 
be subject to him, be it woman, 
child, or native, and he behaves like 
a brute directly the individual runs 
counter to his will. Is it conceivable 
that anywhere in the British Empire, 
no matter how backward or timorous 
they may be, natives could be treated 
in this cold-blooded manner ? Im'agine 
that any Briton should descend to 
isolated acts of bestial barbarity, 
think you his fellow subjects abroad 
or at home would permit this to con- 
tinue ? When has the Reichstag done 
anythmg effectual to put an end to 
these barbarities ? To say they were 
unknown is absurd. Germany has 
ruled for a generation in East Africa, 
ai^d these. methods are obviously not recent. And it is to this systematic torture, to these forms of punbhment ihich 
the civnl code of Germany mfl.cts m times of peace for ordinary offences against society, that vve are trinnd l.rC 
these wretched peoples whom we have now freed and to whom we have given secm-ity from cn^eltv fnr h . r 
being? The idea is unthinkable. The suggestion which has been made by the Gerr^Tn Chancellor iL. J T^ 
races desire German rule, would be laughable were the truth less horrible. And to thTsu-estion th nron^^^^^^ }Va 
that the native peoples should be allowed to elect their rulers for themselves. W at^'o'uTd bel^he^cW. was added 
who had before them the alternative of the <• frightfulness" depicted here if they thouSTthat after hfvlf^"^'^' 
against the Teuton, they might yet be handed over to his tender care. That has happened to ?hcm t h! ^ 
they might weU think it could happen to them again. Next week we shall publish further photograplls on this sub iecT 
