Kasia Cook and Dr. Cindy Brewer, Germanic and Slavic Languages
In Tonga, a group of islands deep in the South Pacific Ocean, religion is an important element of life for all of the islanders. In addition to protestant missionaries from England who helped Tonga establish their constitution, Tongan culture was also deeply influenced by Catholicism. Due to the large population of German businessmen living in Tonga and the close proximity of Tonga to the German colony in Western Samoa, it was supposed that German missionaries must have also traveled to the Tongan islands and contributed to the establishment of some of the schools and other relics of religious influence there. My 2009 ORCA mentored research project was to discover, via an examination of missionary records I hoped to find, to what extent German missionaries during Germany’s colonial period, perceived themselves as emissaries of civilization in Tonga, bringing commerce and Christianity to the islands.
In pursuit of this objective, I traveled to Tonga in July 2009. Lacking sure knowledge that German missionaries had ever been there, I at first set out to establish whether or not they had ever come to the islands. Despite several promising leads, however, I was unable to find any actual record of German missionaries there, let alone any documents they may have left. Additional research in New Zealand indicated that further searches through the records of the old German colony in Samoa might prove more fruitful. Despite the lack of information about German missionaries, however, my trip was far from wasted. Adjusting my hypothesis after this dearth was discovered allowed me to look at and question the influence of Germans as a whole on the islands.
Initial research for my project and trip revealed an extensive population of Germans living in Tonga, especially on the island of Vava’u, at the turn of the twentieth century. As businessmen working mostly in the Copra trade, many of these became totally acculturated in Tongan society, marrying native women and having Tongan-German children. Over time, the presence of these German nationals became very important to the islands, inasmuch as they influenced the economic, political, and cultural evolution of the native people. In fact, the Port of Refuge at Neiafu harbor in Vava’u still stands today as a tribute to the ingenuity and determination of those first German businessmen. Although the buildings that were originally constructed by the German trading firms were sadly destroyed during a fire in December 2008, the remnants of these first real European structures can still be seen. In addition, European cemeteries on each of the islands provide touching tributes to the hundreds of German men, women, and children who ventured to the little Polynesian kingdom to seek their fortune.
After determining to study the influence of Germans as a whole, rather than continuing to look for missionary records, my research techniques evolved from searching for historical documents to interviewing Tongan-German descendents and other knowledgeable people. Thanks in large part to a native translator who traveled with me, I was able to speak to the mixed-race grandchildren and great-grandchildren of some of the founding members of the German communities. Although most of the information came from individuals and cemetery records at Vava’u, interviews with several key people in Ha’api and also the German Consulate head in the capital city of Nuka’alofa on Tongatapu yielded a plethora of useful information. I was careful to photograph each individual and copy any additional pictures or written information they had of their ancestors. I took meticulous notes of each interview and was able to secure the contact information of other family members I could contact for more information in the United States. I also took pictures of each of the German headstones at the European cemeteries in Pangai, Ha’api, and Neiafu, Vava’u. These pictures will aide me in my study of each of the German families that came to Tonga
After leaving Tonga, a short stay in New Zealand, several trips to the Auckland city library, and an interview with Dr. James Bade, the primary expert on the German influence in the Pacific Islands at the University of Auckland, revealed an even deeper need for the study of these German emigrants in Tonga. Additional research questions such as where each of the businessmen came from, why they were there, how they dealt with specific racial differences between themselves and the Tongans, and many other important historical inquiries need an answer. Although I could have chosen to continue pursuing research relative to the colonial history of German missionaries, I chose at that point to definitely reroute my studies to determining the extent of the German influence as a whole on this particular Polynesian kingdom.
Since returning to the United States and throughout fall semester 2009, I have dedicated myself to this main research goal. I have contacted several of the individuals recommended to me by those I interviewed in both Tonga and New Zealand, and have obtained a great deal of important information about those original Germans in Tonga. I have submitted another ORCA application outlining my new research goals, and found a different mentor in the German department with interests similar to my own. Since I do not have enough time at BYU before I graduate to perform more than a cursory examination of the whole extent of the Germans’ influence in Tonga, I have narrowed this topic down to answer questions specific to the treatment of race by those individuals. Upon completion of another research trip to the hometowns of the emigrants during summer 2010, I will turn my findings into my honors thesis, which will also serve as my capstone paper to complete a degree in German Studies here at BYU. I also hope to present my preliminary findings at the Honors Research Conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming in April 2010, and have been invited to attend and present at the Tongan-German Wolfgramm-Sanft family reunion in September 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada. A member of the Wolfgramm family is also planning on accompanying me on my research trip this summer.
Overall, I have become a huge advocate of the ORCA mentored research program. It has opened a future for me that I didn’t previously imagine: I will be continuing my studies again in Tonga after graduation and plan to ultimately write several books on the subject of the German influence there. In addition, I plan to attend graduate school at the University of Auckland in the Research Centre for Germanic Connections with NZ and the Pacific. This project has been richly rewarding for me personally, and I hope that in the long run, it will also be rewarding to those interested in the history of Europeans in Pacific islands, and especially to those whose family history is so affected by this information. I am thankful for the ORCA program.