Lora Wildenthal German Women for Empire, 18841945 (2002)

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.She solicited advice and promises ofaid from Carl Peters, the German consul, and other prominent figures inthe German community.""e" Rentsch very much conformed to the image32 german women for empireof the self-sacrificing nurse; she worked hard at nursing and the care offreed slave children, and claimed to dislike drawing attention to herself.She even asked B�ttner to promise that her letters and diary would notbe published in her lifetime (missionary societies often published ex-tracts for supporters at home to read), adding in an apparent jab atB�low that it is never good if women are made too noticeable. """B�low confronted Rentsch and tried to browbeat her into submis-sion, insisting that she, B�low, had priority as the first German orga-nizer of nursing in Zanzibar.B�low also demanded that Rentsch revealwhatever promises of aid Peters had made, which suggested that B�lowalready had reason to lack confidence in him.If Rentsch refused to fallinto line, B�low threatened to have her sent back to Germany.Rentschresponded that B�low should mind her own scribbling and ask Petersherself what he and Rentsch had agreed to, since you know him verywell, better than I do a reference to their love a"air.""" Reporting theconfrontation in a letter to B�ttner, Rentsch quoted herself tellingB�low: Furthermore you should know that I did not come out here onmy own.I know what I want here & what I can accomplish and createhere for, as Miss von B�low puts it, the good of the whole cause ofGermany. """ Rentsch had the backing of established male authoritiesand of mission and nursing tradition, while B�low could rely only onherself and the undependable Peters.Peters demonstrated just how undependable he was at a decisivemoment for B�low s project.In mid-October 1887 the German com-munity in Zanzibar met to elect a committee to oversee the EvangelicalMissionary Society s German Hospital.""� Although Peters had prom-ised Rentsch his cooperation, he now sent his friend St.Paul Illaire toannounce that the company would not send any patients to the plannedGerman Hospital, but rather only to the old French mission on Zanzi-bar and to B�low s future clinics.Since company employees made upmost of the potential hospital clientele, this was tantamount to blockingthe German Hospital altogether.The German consul and others amongthe German community were ba"ed and outraged, all the more sowhen it turned out that the company had not authorized Peters to makethat decision.""+" Peters then claimed that Rentsch must have misun-derstood his earlier promises of cooperation.""&! He sent a message toRentsch asking her to try to cooperate with B�low, then another mes-colonial nursing 33sage o"ering to pay for a clinic for Rentsch in Pangani, on the main-land.Rentsch reported that Peters told her that in Pangani there was a man who often beats the natives until they are crippled, and maybe hecan use me to cure them again. "d"`" The man was Friedrich Schr�der,Peters s friend and B�low s walking companion, who directed the noto-rious Lewa plantation of the German East African Company and laterreceived a five-year prison sentence for cruelty to workers there."d""Rentsch, repelled, refused to go.When a second hospital meeting washeld in December 1887, Peters sent a more conciliatory message: thecompany would not boycott the hospital, but neither would it give it anexclusive contract."d"d" Finally, Peters declared that he had all along in-tended to persuade the French mission to become a German hospital(which was rather unlikely), and thereby save the money that wouldhave been spent in Zanzibar for the German-ruled mainland."d"e" It wastypical of Peters that he advanced multiple and rather unconvincingexplanations for his actions.B�low did not appear at any of these meet-ings, but rather remained, upset, at her house."d""Rentsch, meanwhile, related her experiences on Zanzibar in increas-ingly outraged letters to B�ttner [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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