Fröhliche Weihnachten (Marry Christmas)

by Rhea Reiblein

The photograph shows locals and a German man standing in a line. These local men are presenting signs with the words “Frohe Weihnachten“, “Merry Christmas“ written on it. The picture was taken by Woeckner between 1909-1912 in German East Africa, which is nowadays known as Tanzania. The headline of the picture is: “Landmesser Erdmann/ Frohe Weihnachten“, “surveyor Erdmann/ Merry Christmas”. The source of the picture is probably a photo album. Its size is 8x11 cm.

In the background of the picture one can see two tents and a hut with a flag. In front of the people there is an extinguished fireplace. Ostensibly, these men stay overnight in the tents and huts. Probably, it should be an expedition or a commission to survey the region. It seems like, if the German man, as a surveyor is cooperating with the natives. Also important to realize is, that the design of the flag looks like the German East African. At the time when the picture was taken the economic land surveying became more and more relevant. Due to the fact that people bought new land and settled in new territories it was necessary to survey the private land.  Moreover, there was a progress in the cartography. The map of German East Africa was accomplished in 1911 on a scale of 1:300.000.

Conspicuously, most of the men are wearing white cloths. The upper part of their body is kept free; but on their heads they wear preponderantly caps. It is easy to distinguish the German man from the natives because of his clothes: He is the only one, among the other men, who is fully dressed and wears a hat. The locals do not look relaxed. In fact, they do not smile and some even bow down their heads. All of them are in the same position. They stand in one line, so no one is in the background or foreground. Even Erdmann does not stand in the middle of the picture. He separates as a blank space the two words.

The most astonishing and important part of the picture is the Christmas wish. Everyone in the picture, except Erdmann, is involved in holding the signs with the letters. Due to the reason, Erdmann does not have a sign in his hand, it seems like, as if he is the one who wishes Merry Christmas. In this context the Christmas wish feels misplaced and decontextualized, because it is written in a foreign language: German. Even worse is that the local men might be Muslims and do not celebrate Christmas. They have to present a message, although it is not their own words. This situation appears wrong, pretended and forced. It seems that “Frohe Weihnachten“ is not intended for the man who took the picture or people in East Africa, but for people back home in Germany. On the one hand, this photograph could work as a postcard to send Christmas greetings. However, on the other hand the fact that it is part of a collection of photographs of Woeckner in an album, speaks against it. It also might be possible that the motivation for taking this picture was simply to show that German traditions can even survive in African colonies. All in all one can say that the intention or aim of the picture is not showing indigenous people or friends, but to use the natives as a tool to transport greetings. We cannot see the men as individuals, but as a uniform mass. One gets the feeling that the photographer took the picture to create a Christmas message, but not to present a typical East African situation; or to document the land surveying