Empire in the Heimat: Colonialism and Public Culture in the Third Reich by Willeke Sandler (review)

The study of European colonial culture, including that of the "lesser empires" like Germany's overseas possessions, is thriving. Willeke Sandler's Empire in the Heimat is a rich and exceptionally well-written history of post-1919 German procolonial, irredentist organizations and the propaganda they produced. Wolfe W. Schmokel tackled this subject more than fifty years ago in Dream of Empire: German Colonialism, 1919–1945 (1964). Whereas Schmokel focused more on diplomacy and continuities from Weimar to Nazi Germany, Sandler centers her analysis on propaganda and popular culture. And while others have argued that the Nazi Party dominated colonialist groups, Sandler contends that they maintained some autonomy, even though their messages sometimes contradicted Nazi aims.

Sandler's story begins with how German colonialists dealt with the loss of the country's colonies after 1919. Colonial devotees, such as the leaders of the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft, later viewed the 1933 Nazi takeover as an opportunity, and they engaged in Selbstgleichschaltung or self-coordinating (7–8) to align themselves with the NSDAP. Colonialists produced an abundance of propaganda and had some success, but this success was tempered by growing competition to reach the masses. Moreover, colonial advocates struggled to harmonize their messages with Nazi ideology, even if they managed to support Nazi antisemitism while reframing National Socialism as compatible with their concept of "benevolent colonialism." Forced Gleichschaltung in 1936 led to the creation of the officially sanctioned Reichskolonialbund, an umbrella organization. Paradoxically, the greater the colonialists' reach and the larger the Reichskolonialbund's membership, the more nonspecialists became involved, which threatened to transform procolonial messages into colonial kitsch. Although it sometimes contradicted Nazi war aims, Reichskolonialbund propaganda continued even after 1939, until Martin Bormann shut down colonialist groups after the 1943 defeat at Stalingrad.

Although the book's subtitle includes the term "public culture," there is certainly more it could have said about procolonial propaganda's effects on German culture. Sandler details how leaders of the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft, Reichskolonialbund, and other groups viewed and debated their propaganda efforts, but says much less about their efficacy. They did have some impact: for instance, when Martin Bormann echoed colonialist views, or when the Sidol Company used colonialist imagery in its advertising, suggesting colonialism's persistent popular appeal. But such evidence is rare. Sandler also describes how procolonial organizations worked, changed, came into existence, and disappeared. Three individuals stand out: Erich Duems, General Secretary of the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft and of the Koloniale Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft; former German East Africa Governor Heinrich Schnee, Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft head from 1930–1936; and Franz Ritter von Epp, a former colonial soldier, Reich Governor of Bavaria, and Reichskolonialbund head from 1936 on. A brief discussion of the Women's League of the Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft and the lack of female leaders illustrate the degree to which German public life between the wars was male-dominated.

The propaganda by Duems, Schnee, Epp, and others did not persuade the Nazi leadership. By contending that "colonialists publicly produced a narrative of Germany's past and future that at times stood at odds with high-ranking Nazi officials' desire for public conformity and a unified focus on European expansion" (10), Sandler wishes to restore to colonialists their agency, which other scholars have downplayed. Yet the Third Reich's propaganda overwhelmed that of the colonialists and their goal of reclaiming the overseas colonies, and the Nazi Party steamrolled traditional colonialists whenever necessary. Thus, Empire in the Heimat buttresses the "intentionalist" argument about the nature of Nazism. Hitler stuck to his ideas of Blut und Boden, regardless of the colonialists' years-long clamoring otherwise, and Sandler points to numerous instances of individuals trying to second-guess Hitler's aims, or "working toward the Führer." That said, Empire in the Heimat also evokes the structuralist argument, inasmuch as the numerous colonialist organizations comprised just some of the multitudinous overlapping groups and bureaucracies jostling for influence in Nazi...