Lisa Jensen and Dr. Cindy Brewer, Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages

Thank you for awarding me the ORCA grant. I have used it to travel to Vienna, Austria with Professor Brewer to research the works of Anna Oehler. Anna Oehler was a mission author of children’s literature in the early 1900s. Her work is important because it provides insights on the racial positions of Europeans at this time.

My project has been slightly delayed, because it was harder than I thought to find her works in mission libraries. Since Oehler started writing in the very early 1900’s and continued writing for approximately 50 years, I had to find her early works prior to 1921. Professor Brewer found a few works by her in the Basel Mission Press in November. I found some in Stuttgart, Germany, and through their interlibrary loan system asked for them to be copied and sent to me, but sadly they didn’t make it in time. So I started to transcribe and translate one of the documents that Professor Brewer found. They are little cards like mormon-ads, but about half the size. On one side is a picture, a scripture, and a poem or thought. On the reverse side is a description of the picture. I have so far transcribed all of the cards, but I am still in the process of translating the cards. Transcribing is the process of typing the old German texts so that they are easily read. I still plan to contribute what I have done to the Sophie Digital Library of Works by German-Speaking women (Sophie.byu.edu). Sophie collects women’s literature prior to 1921. These texts are then available to be used for teaching and researching German cultural history at all levels.

These mission cards were given to children to teach them about missions and to hopefully inspire some to help the mission cause. When I started this research with Professor Brewer I was looking for the ways in which her writing reinforced or subverted racial stereotypes during Germany’s colonial period. Of course I have found many examples that reinforce the racial stereotypes. However, because Anna Oehler was a mission writer she also had a level of compassion for them and a hope that they could be partially redeemed through the savior. In order to show some of her depiction of race I will use the second card.

On the front it has a picture of an old black man, who we find out is a magician, and a boy, who is his apprentice. It also has the scripture Rom 13:12 and a poem about salvation. On the back it tells us about the evil works of the magician and how he tricks the people. It even goes as far to say that whenever an accident happens in the village they ask him who is responsible and then they go and kill the innocent and claim they have executed the judgment of God. At the end of the passage another scripture is quoted, John 8:12. All over this card there are references to black and white. Black is obviously bad and evil and white is good and pure. With this tactic Anna Oehler is reinforcing racial stereotypes.

On the contrary, the poem she has written on the front is about hope. It is about hope for the children reading this and hope for the little black children. On the back of the card she gives hope to the little black child that possibly he won’t grow up without the gospel. She says, “Ja, der arme Knabe wird ein Betrüger werden wie der Alte, und mit allen bösen finstern Mächten im Bunde sein, wenn nicht der in sein Leben hereintritt der gesagt hat: ‚Ich bin das Licht der Welt, wer an mich glaubet, wird nicht wandeln in Finsternis‘.“ She calls him a poor boy. This shows that she doesn’t completely despise him but she at least shows some pity towards the boy. Although he is still not quite on the same level as a European and never will be, but he is no longer wholly malevolent. Then she says that there is some hope for the boy if he will just let in the light of Christ. Again there is another reference to light and darkness, but this time it is said with a hope that the “dark” boy will realize what he is doing and change his way in life.

This text and other texts will be the key in realizing what cultural racism was like in the early 1900’s. These texts taught children the social hierarchy and what it meant to be privileged. Colonial texts taught that white Europeans were supreme and then “yellow” races and last of all “black” races. However mission literature changed this somewhat. White Europeans were still supreme but with this also comes the responsibility to help their little brothers and sisters. They believed they needed to teach them Christianity.

Anne Oehler’s mission cards taught early 20th century children that there was some hope of salvation for black people. Colonial texts from this time period indicate that black people were considered to be less human than white Europeans, even a sub-race. Anna Oehler provided a contrast to this attitude by offering the idea of redemption for them. Her mission cards suggested that although these people were evil, they could be saved by Jesus Christ. By adding Oehler’s mission cards to the Sophie Project, I hope to show other people researching German cultural history that not all early 20th century German speakers condemned black people. There was at least one author at that time who pitied black people and held hope for their redemption.

Reference

• Oehler, Anna. 24 Farbige Missionsbilder. Stuttgart, Basel: Evang. Missionsverlag S. m.b.h.