Gustav Adolf Graf von Götzen (12 May 1866 – 1 December 1910) was a German explorer, colonial administrator, and military officer who served as Reichskommissar of

German East Africa German East Africa (GEA; ) was a German colonial empire, 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 Portugu ...

. He came to

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

in 1894 becoming the second European to enter the territory, since Oscar Baumann’s brief expedition in 1892, and later, he became the first European to cross the entire territory of Rwanda. During the

Maji Maji Rebellion The Maji Maji Rebellion (, ) was an armed rebellion of Africans against German colonial rule in German East Africa (modern-day Tanzania). The war was triggered by German colonial policies designed to force the indigenous population to grow cott ...

of 1905, Götzen commanded the Schutztruppe against several rebelling African tribes in the

colony, quelling the uprising. The rebellion and famine that followed resulted in the deaths of up to 300,000 people.

Early life and education

Count von Götzen was born into a comital family at their main residence, Scharfeneck Castle, back then in the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

. In present-day

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and now called Sarny Castle, the castle and the adjoining summer palace, as well as the castle chapel in which he may have been baptized, still exist despite decades of disrepair in the communist era. Von Götzen studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

at the universities of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...

between 1884 and 1887. He then joined the army, and became (in 1887) a

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

in the 2nd Garde-Ulanen regiment. Between 1890 and 1891 he was stationed in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and it was from there that he made his first African trip, in a hunting expedition to

Mount Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano i ...

. In 1892, having been made an officer in the War academy, Götzen travelled to the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

with Major .

Military career

1892 - 1896: Expeditions to Africa

From 1885, Carl Peters had begun claiming areas of

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

for Germany. The Tanganyikan coast proved relatively easy, but conquest of the inland areas of the colony - right up to the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (, ; ) was a Belgian colonial empire, Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960 and became the Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville). The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Repu ...

- was more difficult as large parts were still unexplored. For this reason, Götzen led an expedition to claim these hinterlands. He took with him and . The group set off from

Pangani Pangani (''Mji wa Pangani'', in Swahili language, Swahili) is a historic town and capital of Pangani District in the Tanga Region of Tanzania. The town lies south of the city of Tanga, Tanzania, Tanga, at the mouth of the Pangani River in whic ...

, on the Tanganyikan coast, on 21 December 1893. After travelling through Maasai areas, they eventually arrived, on 2 May 1894, at Rusumo Falls on the Kagera river. By crossing the river, the group entered in the

Kingdom of Rwanda The Kingdom of Rwanda (also known as the Nyiginya Kingdom or Nyginya Dynasty) was a Bantu kingdom in modern-day Rwanda, which grew to be ruled by a Tutsi monarchy. It was one of the most centralized kingdoms in Central and East Africa. It was ...

, at the time, it was one of the most organised and centralised kingdoms in the region. Götzen became the second European to set foot in Rwanda since Oscar Baumann's 1892 expedition. His group travelled right through Rwanda, meeting the

mwami ''Mwami'' () is an honorific title common in parts of Central and East Africa. The title means ''chief'' or ''tribal chief'' in several Bantu languages. It was historically used by kings in several African nations, and is still used for traditi ...

(king)

Kigeli IV Rwabugiri Kigeli IV Rwabugiri (1840? – September 1895) was the king (''King of Rwanda, mwami'') of the Kingdom of Rwanda in the mid-nineteenth century. He was among the last Nyiginya kings in a ruling dynasty that had traced its lineage back to Gihanga, ...

at his palace in Kageyo, and eventually reaching

Lake Kivu Lake Kivu is one of the African Great Lakes. It lies on the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and is in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift. Lake Kivu empties into the Ruzizi River, which ...

, the western edge of the kingdom. After encountering and climbing some of the Virunga Mountains, Götzen decided to continue west through the Congolese jungle. With great effort, they managed to reach the

Congo River The Congo River, formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second-longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the third-largest river in the world list of rivers by discharge, by discharge volume, following the Amazon Ri ...

on 21 September, which they then followed downstream, eventually reaching the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

on 29 November. In January 1895, Götzen returned to Germany.

Service in America: 1896 - 1901

Between 1896 and 1898 Götzen worked as an

attaché In diplomacy, an attaché () is a person who is assigned ("to be attached") to the diplomatic or administrative staff of a higher placed person or another service or agency. Although a loanword from French, in English the word is not modified ac ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and he served as an observer with

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

during the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

. While Götzen was there, he fell in love with the American widow of William Matthews Lay (1845-1893), May Loney (1857-1931), and married her. They had a daughter, Wanda Luise von Götzen, in 1898. Afterwards, he joined the general staff of the army in Berlin, where he was promoted in 1900 to the rank of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

German East Africa and Maji Maji Rebellion: 1901-1906

Due to his knowledge of local conditions, Götzen was appointed governor of German East Africa in March 1901. There had already been rebellions by the native population in the 1880s and 1890s, and in 1905 Götzen was faced with outbreak of the

, which quickly took over about half of the colony. This was similar in severity to the Herero Wars taking place in German South-West Africa, but was noticed less by the German public. Götzen sent for reinforcements, and suppressed the rebellion by force. Götzen's troops lost 15 Europeans and 389 African soldiers, according to official data. Estimates of the numbers of Africans who died in the famine following the uprising range from 75,000, to 100-120,000, to 300,000, depending on the source consulted. On 14 June 1906, Götzen later returned to Germany after submitting a report to the Foreign Office outlining what he believed were the causes of the Maji Maji Rebellion. The Foreign Office, keen to avoid a colonial scandal, accepted Götzen's report, and he retired ostensibly on the grounds of ill health. Following his retirement, the German government began to administer its overseas possessions under civilian control.

Later life

Götzen's diplomatic career was almost at an end after his work as Governor. In early 1907 he was offered the minor post of a German envoy to

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

in which his duties would involve mostly accompanying the

Kaiser Kaiser ( ; ) is the title historically used by German and Austrian emperors. In German, the title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (). In English, the word ''kaiser'' is mainly applied to the emperors ...

through the city. This lighter amount of work gave Götzen the opportunity to publish a book ''DEUTSCH-OSTAFRIKA IM AUFSTAND, 1905-1906''. In it, he attempted to justify his involvement in the

and the causes that prompted his response to quell the rebellion. This work was later published in 1909. Götzen still took an interest in the colonial politics of the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

; he was an active member of the committee for the German Colonial Society until his death on December 1, 1910 in a hospital in Schöneberg near Berlin. His wife outlived him by over two decades. They were buried together at the

Ohlsdorf Cemetery Ohlsdorf Cemetery ( or (former) ) in the Ohlsdorf, Hamburg, Ohlsdorf quarter of the city of Hamburg, Germany, is the biggest rural cemetery in the world and the fourth-largest cemetery in the world. Most of the people buried at the cemetery are c ...

in Hamburg.

Legacy

The German passenger ship ''Graf von Götzen'' was named after Götzen and used as part of Germany's war effort on

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika ( ; ) is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake. It is the world's List of lakes by volume, second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the List of lakes by depth, second deepest, in both cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. ...

in World War I. She was scuttled in July 1916 off the mouth of the Malagarasi River to prevent her falling into the hands of the Belgian troops. In 1924 on instructions from

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

, salvage operations by the ''

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

'' succeeded in refloating the ship and in 1927 she returned to service as the '' M.V. Liemba'' and is still running today as a passenger cargo ferry. Comparing von Götzen's actions to the

Herero and Nama genocide The Herero and Nama genocide or Namibian genocide, formerly known also as the Herero and Namaqua genocide, was a campaign of ethnic extermination and collective punishment waged against the Herero people, Herero (Ovaherero) and the Nama people, N ...

, Mark Levene writes: "Operating with many fewer Schutzgruppe, considerably less money and appreciably less self-aggrandisement, von Götzen achieved essentially the same results by an entirely more effective but much less spectacular strategy than that initially adopted by his South-West African counterpart: starvation."

Writings by Götzen

*. Berlin (1895) * ''Deutsch-Ostafrika im Aufstand 1905/06''. Berlin (1909). English translation:
German East Africa in Rebellion, 1905/06
' (2019).

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gotzen, Gustav Adolf von 1866 births 1910 deaths People from Radków People from the Province of Silesia Counts in Germany Prussian nobility German explorers of Africa German mass murderers German war criminals 20th-century German murderers Perpetrators of Indigenous genocides History of Rwanda Governors of German East Africa People of former German colonies University of Paris alumni Humboldt University of Berlin alumni University of Kiel alumni Schutztruppe personnel German expatriates in Rwanda German expatriates in France