The Reichskolonialbund (RKB) ( en, Reich Colonial League) was a collective body that absorbed all German colonial organisations during the time of the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. It was led by

Franz Ritter von Epp Franz Ritter von Epp (born Franz Epp; from 1918 as Ritter von Epp; 16 October 1868 – 31 January 1947)Lilla, Joachim: Epp, Franz Ritter v.'. In: Staatsminister, leitende Verwaltungsbeamte und (NS-)Funktionsträger in Bayern 1918 bis 19 ...

. The Reichskolonialbund was active between 1936 and 1943.

History

Background

The purpose of the Reichskolonialbund was to reclaim the overseas colonies that

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

had lost as a result of the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

at the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The first efforts in rallying support for a re-establishment of a German Colonial Empire in Germany can be traced back to 1923. As a result, a number of pro-colonial organisations, supported by both conservative-minded Germans and nationalists, were established in different parts of Germany. Founded in 1925, the foremost outfit was the ''Koloniale Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft'' (KORAG). This organisation, along with other groups, led to the foundation of the preliminary Reichskolonialbund in 1933. The establishment was made in two steps, the second one being its incorporation ''(Gliederung)'' into the

Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

structure; as a result many references give two different years for the Nazi Reichskolonialbund foundation, 1933 and 1936.

Establishment

The Reichskolonialbund was established on 13 June 1936 by the former governor of

German East Africa German East Africa (GEA; german: Deutsch-Ostafrika) was a German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Mozam ...

Heinrich Schnee Heinrich Albert Schnee (Albert Hermann Heinrich Schnee; 4 February 1871 – 23 June 1949) was a German lawyer, colonial civil servant, politician, writer, and association official. He served as the last Governor of German East Africa. Early l ...

. Whether the organisations that joined it did so freely, or were forced to do so in the name of ''

Gleichschaltung The Nazi term () or "coordination" was the process of Nazification by which Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party successively established a system of totalitarian control and coordination over all aspects of German society and societies occupied b ...

'', is a subject of conjecture. Led by Ritter von Epp, the organisation's alleged purpose was to "keep the population informed about the loss of the German Imperial colonies, to maintain contact with the former colonial territories and to create conditions in opinion favourable to a new German African Empire". The foundation of RKB was marred with difficulties, for only two months after its establishment,

Rudolf Hess Rudolf Walter Richard Hess (Heß in German; 26 April 1894 – 17 August 1987) was a German politician and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. Appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler in 1933, Hess held that position unt ...

decreed its disbandment. However, after lengthy discussions, the decree was revoked in November of the same year. As part of the Nazi triumphalism for the Third Reich, the Reichskolonialbund was intended to take over the role of the disbanded

German Colonial Society The German Colonial Society (german: Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft) (DKG) was a German organisation formed on 19 December 1887 to promote German colonialism. The Society was formed through the merger of the (; established in 1882 in Frankfurt) an ...

, (''Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft'') (DKG). Since Germany had no colonies, the Reichskolonialbund was mainly engaged in mostly virulent political agitation. The agitation was conducted largely in Germany by means of newspapers, magazines, conferences and "Colonial Exhibitions". That was meant to keep open the so-called Colonial Question (Kolonialfrage) and to gather funds for the organisation. The most important weekly publications of the Reichskolonialbund between 1937 and 1943 were ''Kolonie und Heimat'' and the ''Deutsche Kolonialzeitung'', the former mouthpiece of the German Colonial Company. The RKB also printed colourful posters for the advancement of its cause. The Reichskolonialbund had its own youth organization, the Colonial Youth, which was incorporated as a wing of the

Hitler Youth The Hitler Youth (german: Hitlerjugend , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth organisation of the Nazi Party in Germany. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. ...

. Its members wore the regular Hitler Youth uniform with Reichskolonialbund badges and insignias. The youth regularly staged rallies and collected money for the colonial cause during the events organised by the Reichskolonialbund. Adult members of the Reichskolonialbund also wore uniform during parades and rallies. The design was inspired by the

Schutztruppe (, Protection Force) was the official name of the colonial troops in the African territories of the German colonial empire from the late 19th century to 1918. Similar to other colonial armies, the consisted of volunteer European commissioned ...

uniforms of the German Imperial Era. The Reichskolonialbund held two parliamentary sessions, the first in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

in May 1938 and the second in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in May 1939.

Twilight and end

The decline of the Reichskolonialbund began with the onset of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, when the Nazi State focused on other priorities, foremost of which was the search for a

Lebensraum (, ''living space'') is a German concept of settler colonialism, the philosophy and policies of which were common to German politics from the 1890s to the 1940s. First popularized around 1901, '' lso in:' became a geopolitical goal of Imperi ...

in the East of Europe. Finally in 1943 the Reichsleiter

Martin Bormann Martin Ludwig Bormann (17 June 1900 – 2 May 1945) was a German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery. He gained immense power by using his position as Adolf Hitler's private secretary to control the flow of information ...

pressed for the dissolution of the Reichskolonialbund on the grounds of ''"kriegsunwichtiger Tätigkeit"'' ("activity irrelevant to the war"). Hence the Reichskolonialbund was swiftly disbanded by a decree of the

Führer ( ; , spelled or ''Fuhrer'' when the Umlaut (diacritic), umlaut is not available) is a German word meaning "leader" or "guide". As a political title, it is strongly associated with the Nazi Germany, Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Nazi Germany ...

in 1943. The disbandment of the organisation and its assets was harsh and without ceremony, almost equaling a requisition ''(Beschlagnahmung)''. Most of the Reichskolonialbund's files lie in the archives in

Koblenz Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...

, where there are 5,140 documents from the period 1925 to 1943.The DFG Project
/ref>

Notes and references

External links

Examples of the Reichskolonialbund's agitation: Posters, insignias, etc. (de)
* {{Former German colonies Nazi Party organizations 1936 establishments in Germany 1943 disestablishments in Germany German colonial empire Organizations established in 1936 Organizations disestablished in 1943