Regina Bruce / Savi de Tové [1900-1991] – Germany | Togo
Life stories
Merle Bode, 2023
Regina Bruce / Savi de Tové was born in Wuppertal in 1900 as the daughter of Togolese colonial migrants. As a toddler, she traveled all over Europe with her family and her show business. She spent her childhood and youth with foster parents in northern Germany. In Hamburg she finally trained as a teacher and worked in a children's home. Here she was part of the black community that fought against anti-black racism in the Weimar Republic. In the mid 1920s she left Germany with her two sisters and moved to Togo, where she died in 1991 after a long life.
Her remarkable biography is part of German-Togolese colonial and migration history. Regina Bruce / Savi de Tové's life also tells of the possibilities and limits of action for a black woman in the 20th century.
When she was born, Regina Bruce / Savi de Tové was given several unknown Ewe first names. Since she speaks about herself as Regina in the audio recordings, I'll use that first name here.
Over 120 years after Regina Bruce / Savi de Tové's birth, I am trying to understand her biography. What she felt and thought herself could often not be found in the sources. Shortly after completing her life story, I came across audio recordings in which she, at the age of 75, talked about her life up until around 1930. This recording created a new image; I could insert quotes from her and put her perspective in the foreground.
Nevertheless, it is essential to show from which perspective I write Regina Bruce / Savi de Tové's biography: As a white German woman, I have been shaped by colonial history. Even though I take a feminist perspective that is critical of racism, much of my knowledge comes from Eurocentric archives. With a different background of knowledge and experience, Regina Bruce's / Savi de Tové's story could certainly be told differently.
Contact:
Merle Bode: mbode(at)decolonize-cologne.de
References:
Staatsarchiv Bremen, Briefe der Norddeutschen Missionsgesellschaft, Signaturen: 7,1025-25/3; 7,1025-12,6; 7,1025-88/6; 7,1025-33/3.
Privatarchiv, 4 Audio Kassetten.
Monatsblatt der Norddeutschen Missionsgesellschaft, 1921, 1926-1928.
Savi de Tové, Jonathan: Aus einstigen Kolonialherren wurden Freunde, in: Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit (Hrsg.): Wie sie die Deutschen sehen. Meinungen aus Asien, Afrika und Iberoamerika, 1965, S. 28-33.
Azamede, Kokou: Transkulturationen? Ewe-Christen zwischen Deutschland und Westafrika, 1884-1939, 2010.
Brändle, Rea: Nayo Bruce. Geschichte einer afrikanischen Familie in Europa, 2007.
Brändle, Rea: „… mit aufopfernder Liebe diese Heidenkinder bekehrt“ – Eine Gruppentaufe am 13. März 1903 im Dom, in: Bechhaus-Gerst, Marianne; Horstmann, Anne-Kathrin (Hrsg.): Köln und der deutsche Kolonialismus. Eine Spurensuche, 2013, S. 171-174.
Grosse, Pascal: Zwischen Privatheit und Öffentlichkeit: Kolonialmigration in Deutschland 1900-1940, in: Kundrus, Birthe (Hrsg.): Phantasiereiche. Zur Kulturgeschichte des deutschen Kolonialismus, 2003, S. 91-109.
Kelly, Natasha A.: Schwarz. Deutsch. Weiblich. Warum Feminismus mehr als Geschlechtergerechtigkeit fordern muss, 2023.
Oguntoye, Katharina: Eine afro-deutsche Geschichte. Zur Lebenssituation von Afrikanern und Afro-Deutschen in Deutschland von 1884 bis 1950, 1997.
Stationen
Birth in the Bergisches Land
Early childhood
School time with foster parents
Training and work in a children's home in Hamburg
Contacts with Hamburg's black community
Missionary sisters of the North German Mission
Farewell from Germany
Life and work as a missionary sister
Starting a family and temporarily returning to Germany
Director of the Red Cross