History of the house

During German colonial times several buildings were constructed under Gunzert’s administration. Partly, they are still visible today, like the “Gunzert House”, falsely known as Robert Koch’s House, on Makoroboi, a hill in the city centre of Mwanza. As it is written down in his memoirs, it was built in 1912 and Gunzert described it there as a “fine house with four rooms, kitchen, large verandah etc. […] with a wonderful view over the lake.” Gunzert lived in this house for some years towards the end of formal German colonialism in Tanzania. After its use by the British colonisers and by Tanzanian officials after independence, it has been empty for several years

The Gunzert House was identified as a tourist attraction in 2011. Maasai people had occupied it as their residence, but they also assisted in protecting it. In 2013 a part of the Gunzert House roof began to break up apart from a wall which was already collapsed. The work on the house began by creating different independent tourism stakeholders. They set the direction for tourism development and raising awareness about the importance of the House, conducting several meetings where it was decided to restore the Gunzert House and to find ways of getting funds for this. A Restoration Committee was formed by the directive of the Mwanza Regional Commissioner’s office,actors from SAUT, Mwanza City Council, Tanzania Tourist Board and the Ministry of Natural Resources. In 2019, the project received funding from the Federal Republic of Germany and the city of Würzburg, the partner city of Mwanza, to restore it from decay and assume its original look. For the restoration both the regional government, private sector and the informal sectors in tourism were involved. This process had almost taken eight years of hard work with lots of ups and downs.

German colonial occupation and administration in Mwanza

The German colonial rule in the so called “German East Africa” took placebetween 1884-1918.Effectively, the German colonial rule was gradually imposed in what is now mainland Tanzania, Ruanda and Burundi after the creations of the British and German sphere of influence in East Africa, agreed on in 1890. With this, Usukuma, the south lake area, fell under German rule and they entered with militarilyexpeditions despatched by the imperial commissioner (Reichskommissar) for German East Africa, Major Hermann von Wissmann, to establish control. The administration was left in the hands of non-commissioned officers, who showed little capacity for dealing politically with the Wasukuma, imposing themselves without defining the relationship between them and the Batemi. Overall, the Germans neglected this part of the lake region in the initial years of colonization until several sporadic attacks broke out simultaneously, alarming the Germans.The resulting oppressive measures of the Germans caused opposition to the German dominations which in turn reacted with even more punitive military expeditions to the areas concerned. The German schutztruppen were quick to punish harshly by shooting people, flogging them, burning their villages and confiscating huge numbers of livestock. As by the end of 1895 it became clear that this policy of punitive raids failed to crush anti-German resistance. Hence, the administrative policy in the lake region was reviewed, trying to establish a new political order. The years of the Maji Maji uprising (1905-1907) and the ones the Germans faced in Namibia (so called German South West Africa) were a turning point in the colonial German history and policy, emerged from these crises and it was tried to establish a more just administration and meaningful economic development programs. This meant the abolition of military rule and the establishment of a civilian colonial administration. The man who was appointed to implement this new policy in Usukma was Theodor Gunzert.

He was district commissioner (Bezirksamstmann) in Mwanza from 1907-1916. At that time, the town had about 6000 inhabitants, including many Indians and about 150 Europeans.

He tried to keep close contact with the people through frequent tours through the district, trying to win the confidence and cooperation of the Batemi by making them exclusive agents, backing up their authority by investing it with official prestige to give the local population a legal-political status. Still, Gunzert himself reserved to him the right of direct intervention in local affairs whenever he felt was necessary.

During his ten-year stay in Mwanza Gunzert cared the most for his economic program. He introduced the development of peasant cash crop economy and forced instead of persuaded each household to grow cash crop on an annually increasingacreage. With the construction of new roads, he facilitated the transportation of these crops and Mwanza became the greatest exporter of rice, groundnuts and cotton in the colony.

Generally, the imposition of German colonial rule marked a turning point in the history of the Wasukuma. Europeans were able to introduce several significant political and economical changes from 1890 to 1918.But by first resisting and the coming to terms with Germans, they were able to preserve parts of their traditional way of life though the German colonial period. Most social and political institutions of the Wasukuma remained intact and they managed to assimilate without losing their basic social and cultural institutions. One other aspect the Wasukuma resisted through the whole colonial era was Christianity.

In sum, the experiences which the Waskuma ruling elite gained under German colonial rule prepared them to deal with the indirect rule administrative system the British enforced in Tanganyika in the 1920s. The people with both traditional skills and Western skill inherited by the Germans were anxious to reorganize their communities to face alien rule more effectively

Perspectives & Perceptions: Postcolonial remembrance in Tanzania and Germany

Germany and Tanzania have a long history of interaction, dating back to the mid of the 19^th century to the present. This illustrates how important it is to reflect the historic ties between Tanzania and Germany evolving during the 25 years of German colonialism in Tanzania. These legacies and memories deserve publicity, sensitization and advocacy. The Gunzert House provides the space for this, as a memorial place for the dealing with the colonial past in the present and the future, that can be constantly changed and renewed. The Gunzert House is thus a place of collective remembrance culture, a place that not only addresses stories from the past but is also the subject of societal debates about the past in the present.How the past is remembered is therefore a reconstructive product of the present. Thus, it is a positive space to celebrate, enjoy and learn about the dynamic and rich social and cultural heritages. Considering this, the house is a socio-culture centre that should have a name to remember Mwanza’s history and culture and not the German one. Therefore, in 2022 researches were conducted to about the renaming of the Gunzert House into Mwanza Boma.