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Barbara Frey, 2024

The banker Adolph von Hansemann (1826–1903) was one of the major financial players in the colonial business. He was co-owner and managing director of the Disconto Society (Disconto Gesellschaft), which merged with Deutsche Bank at the end of the 1920s. During von Hansemann's time, the Disconto-Gesellschaft was the largest private bank in the German Empire. Von Hansemann invested privately, as well as with bank's bonds, in numerous colonial ventures.

In doing so, he paved the way for German colonization and influenced imperial colonial policy. He played a key role in the founding of the colony of "German New Guinea", supported "research trips", explored economic opportunities, financed land acquisitions, and founded trading, mining, and railway companies such as the New Guinea Company and the Otavi Mining and Railway Company (OMEG).

The connection between capital, colonial policy and economic exploitation is evident in the Disconto Society and in Adolph von Hansemann and his role in colonization. This article presents some ventures that von Hansemann and the Disconto Society financed with their investments. In doing so, they drove the colonial exploitation of many regions and led the people living there into economic dependency, poverty, and forced labour.

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Adolph von Hansemann

The Disconto Society

Family ties into politics

German interests in the South Pacific

New Guinea Consortium / New Guinea Company

Astrolabe-Compagnie

The German Colonial Society for Southwest Africa

Otavi Mining and Railway Company

Shantung Mining Society and Shantung Railway Society

Traces

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