The Staff Question in German Plantations in the British Cameroons during World War II: The Employment of Staff from Jamaica and Malaya

Abstract

Unlike the British and French territories in West Africa, the German territories of Cameroons and Togoland witnessed massive investment in plantations. These properties were taken over by the British and French during the First World War, 1914-1918. In the interwar years, 1919-1939, a good number of them were purchased and repossessed by the Germans who returned to West Africa after the war. Thus, the internment of German subjects in the Cameroons under the British mandate during the Second World War, 1939-1945, had implications for these German plantations. Earlier studies on the history of Cameroons and on the impact of World War II on West Africa have omitted this phenomenon. This paper is, therefore, designed to examine the staff question in the management of the German plantations in the British sphere of the Cameroons during the Second World War. Primary archival sources provided data for this historical reconstruction. It is a contribution to knowledge in the areas of impact of the global conflict on the periphery economy.