Martin Dibobe
Martin Dibobe | |
|---|---|
.jpeg) | |
| Born | 31 October 1876 Bonaprise, Cameroon |
| Disappeared | 1922 |
| Died | c. 1922 |
| Nationality | Cameroonian |
| Occupations |
|
| Spouse |
Helene Noster (m. 1900) |
Martin Dibobe (31 October 1876 – 1922)[1] was a Cameroon-born train driver in Berlin during the period of the German Empire.[2] He was born in Bonaprise, Cameroon and is presumed to have died in Liberia sometime after 1922.[3] His original name was Quane a Dibobe but he was christened Martin Dibobe by missionaries. At the age of 20 he went to Germany to represent Cameroon (then a German colony) at the Great Industrial Exposition of Berlin in 1896 where his role at the Treptower Park was to portray 'African daily life'. Together with many other Africans, all from the then German colonies, he spent six months at the exhibition as an 'exhibit'. When the exhibition ended he stayed in Berlin and started an apprenticeship as an industrial mechanic with the firm Conrad Schultz in Strausberg.[4]
Background
Early in 1900 he became engaged to Helene Noster, the daughter of his landlord, and they married in the same year despite objections from the German colonial authorities. In 1902 he worked as a dispatcher with the
He openly sympathised with the views of the
Disappearance
In 1922, vexed by the racism in Germany, he decided to return to Africa with his family, and in preparation for this he travelled alone to Cameroon, which was now under French control. The French, fearing that he would instigate a revolt in favour of the Germans, refused to allow him to disembark. He had no alternative but to travel on to Liberia. At this point all trace of him was lost, but it seems likely that he died in Liberia.
See also
References
- ^ "Martin Dibobe - ToleranzRäume". Retrieved 2023-09-06.
- ^ "German colonial history and a historic protest – DW – 07/25/2019". dw.com. Retrieved 2023-09-06.
- ^ "German colonialism and the long-forgotten Dibobe Petition | DW | 25.07.2019". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 2019-08-01.
- ^ Wurm, Philipp (2017-02-06). "Martin Dibobe, preußischer Afro-Sozi: Black Power im Kaiserreich". Spiegel Online. Retrieved 2019-08-01.