Between Radio Station and Correctional Camp: German colonialism in Togo – Togo | Germany
Themed tours
Patrick Atakpa Ayele-Yawou, 2024
Kamina is approximately 7 km away from the city center of Atakpamé. In 1911, during German colonialism in Togo, Kamina was a German military radio base that allowed Berlin to stay in radio contact with the German fleet in the South Atlantic. The telegraph station was still under construction when World War broke out. The Germans in the Togolese colony, attacked by the French from the east and the British from the west, then blew up the installations on the night of August 24-25, 1914, before surrendering on August 27, 1914.
Built by the locals, forced laborers from the Northern Sokode district, and enslaved people from the Wahala prison, the telegraph station is a unique testament to the ingenuity and hard work of its builders, both European and Togolese.
Let's travel back in time! The construction of the Kamina radio telegraph in Africa was an ambitious project led by the German authorities during the colonial period. This infrastructure played a strategic role in communication systems of the time, with the exploitation and involvement of local populations. The radio station allows us to follow a history that shaped the colonial life of Kamina and its surroundings.
Contact: patryelo@gmail.com
References:
Gayibor, Nicoué Lodjou: Le Togo sous domination colonial (1884-1960), 1997, Link.
Simtaro, Dadja Halla-Kawa: Le Togo “Musterkolonie”: souvenir de l’Allemagne dans dla société togolaise, 1982.
Azamede, Kokou: Le centre émetteur de Kamina, 2014, Goethe-Institut Togo, Link.
Stationen
The German colonial period in Atakpamé
Kamina as location of the radio station
The engineer: Antonio von Codelli
Rail infrastructure on the site
A second radio station
Forced labour and resistance
Wahala/Chra: A sad Village of resistance fighters
A disgrace: Wahala military memorial
The perpetrator: Hans Georg von Doering
The inhabitants of Wahala today