Africa: African Prisoners Made Sound Recordings in German Camps in WW1 - This Is What They Had to Say
During the first world war (1914-1918) thousands of African men enlisted to fight for France and Britain were captured and held as prisoners in Germany. Their stories and songs were recorded and archived by German linguists, who often didn't understand a thing they were saying. Now a recent book called Knowing by Ear listens to these recordings alongside written sources, photographs and artworks to reveal the lives and political views of these colonised Africans from present-day Senegal, Somalia, Togo and Congo. Anette Hoffmann is a historian whose research and curatorial work engages with historical sound archives. We asked her about her book. How did these men come to be recorded? About 450 recordings with African speakers were made with linguists of the so-called Royal Prussian Phonographic Commission . Their project was opportunistic. They made use of the presence of prisoners of war to further the...