A COLONIAL SCHOOL

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 80, 5 April 1938, Page 13

A COLONIAL SCHOOL

ITS WORK IN GERMANY

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

The Third Reich's concentrated propaganda for ■ the return of the former colonies has attracted general attention to the Deutsche Kolonialschule, Germany's only existing institution for the training of future men colonists, says the Berlin correspondent of the "Christian Science Monitor."

In the Werraland, between Gottingen and Kassel, where green fields and low green hillsides meet the eye on either side, stands the ancient town of Witzenhausen.' Like so many of its neighbours, this quiet farming town seems to'twine around an ancient church and a few high-gabled houses, centuries old. The tourist, unless he happened to be in this district in cherry-blossom time, would probably pass by Witzenhausen and so miss the interesting Colonial school, established in its thirteentljcentury cloister. .

This school is neither a new creation nor a State : institution. Established by "private subscription in the spring of 1898, through the initiative of Professoi' Albert Fabarius and a few en^ thusiastic supporters, it has concentrated ever since upon training men for life overseas, particularly in tropical lands.

Recognition of both the Ministries of the Interior and of Education has fieen won by, the school, and during' the past few years it has , been enlarged and modernised far beyond its founders' ideas. Today, the cloister is,used as home arid lecture rooms for the students, while a few miles away is the Gelsterhof, a model farm of about IOOp acres. .. ■ The school course lasts for three years, one of which is devoted entirely to practical work, unless the student has already done, two years on a*farm, and twp years, in which work and study are combined: The charges are for the. "Praktikanten" (first-year students) 1200 marks a year ,(£120), and 1500. Reichmarks. a year, for the next two years. So that for 4200 Reichmarks the future colonist receives board, lodging, and up-to-date tuition.' ■ ..

THEORY AND PRACTICE.

Students can be admitted provided they ha^ve passed through a secondary school/and are between 17 and 28 years. ' Herr Walther Darre, present Reichminister of Agriculture, was a student in 191930, and "the sons of a number of statesmen from the Balkans and Asia Minor have taken courses here. • ■ : ■ ■ • ; ■ ■ • The balance of theory and practice is carefully maintained-in the ftvork done, so /that the future colonists will be pioneers • with much expert knowledge and a good general grounding, able to contribute not only to German ibut to world progress. In the school )tself the students learn-to apply*themselves to everything essential to their future career. Thus they have courses in gardening, tailoring,-in the wheelwright's and the saddler's shop and in the smithy, as well as in the dairy, the, mill, and the bakery. At their own model farm (Gelsterhaf) the students do almost all the work themselves, and learn to handle cows, pigs, sheep, and horses. • Their labours'in the field, the stall, and barn are such as to give them the best'op-portunity-of proving themselves ; good .farmers, while the quality of the- produce and the condition ..of the cattle .evidence the high standard of their 1 Most of these Btudents intend. to settle in tropical areas and must therefore be acquainted with farming conditions existing there. - It is, of course, hot possible for them to grow tropical plants ,on a large scale in • Witzenhausen, but'they are able to experiment in large greenhouses with coffee, cotton, and such plants and what canj not be done practically here, is learned theoretically for the time being, with machinery and tools. These differ in such countries from those used in Germany. But every student knows how to learn to drive an automobile and a tractor, how to run a Diesel engine, vand ah electric dynamo. / FOREIGN LANGUAGES.

Foreign languages are also taught— English throughout the whole course, while Spanish is voluntary in the .third and fourth semesters, and Dutch, Portuguese, Malay, and others as desired. Lectures on raciology, general and colonial politics ensure that the future settlers will leave the fatherland with the National Socialist "Weltanschauung. An important addition to the school since" 1919 'has been the Kolonialkundliches Institut which contains full and up-to-date archives, dealing with the ethnography, natural science, and economics of any particular part of the. world to.which they are likely to go. All their principal instructors from Director Karl W. H. Kock downward have been themselves colonists in Africa, South America, or elsewhere, so that they, too, can hand on the benefits'of their practical experience... Nowadays, the greatest problem is the closed door to immigrants, in so many parts of the world. Most of the present students hope to go to Africa to the former German colonies, especially to the Cameroons arid Togoland, to German East and South West Africa and to South America. Formerly a large niimber went to The Netherlands Indies but owing to restrictions only a few have been able to go during the past few years. Now at Witzenhausen hopes are high that the present international negotiations will increase the possibilities of colonisation. But in' any case the German Kolonialschule is an- expression of hope in our colonial future. There is also a much newer and smaller: colonial school for girls at Kendsburg in Schleswig-Holstem, but here the courses.are only for one year.