Das Album.

Analogous to the term „protectorate,“ the military in German East Africa was called the „Protection Force“ (Schutztruppe). The primary purpose was not to protect individuals, but rather to safeguard German (commercial) interests. The Protection Force was intended for police duties, ensuring the maintenance of colonial order and the enforcement of the German state’s monopoly on violence.
Theodor Schneemann (in the picture second from the right) joined the Protection Force in 1903 and moved to Dar es Salaam. Unlike his comrades, he never achieved ranks higher than that of a sergeant major, which was part of the non-commissioned officer class.

The foot soldiers of the Protection Force were mercenaries from various parts of Africa, known as Askari. They were paid less than their German counterparts and their deaths did not need to be justified within the former German Reich. There was a clear racial segregation between German and African soldiers, creating a de facto two-class army. Recruitment primarily included Sudanese, Zulu, and Somalis, as well as a few Turks, Arabs, Abyssinians (today’s Ethiopians), and Wanjema.
It is a bitter irony of history that at the German colonial congresses of 1905 and 1910, there were warnings about the alleged threat of an „Islamization of the West,“ while simultaneously African Muslims were fighting and dying for German colonial interests.