Africa: What It Gave Me, What It Took from Me is a memoir of an extraordinary woman who, as a newlywed, travelled with her husband to German South West Africa, a colony situated just above South African on the Atlantic coast. Here they begin a farm in a quite remote area where they raise cattle, sheep, and goats and plant large gardens on the banks of the Omaruru River. They build a comfortable home and welcome their first child. As the von Eckenbrechers work hard to build, their farm natives, whose land has been appropriated by the colonial government, are planning a revolt against colonial rule. Insurrection begins and the von Eckenbrechers are in the midst of it all. As the rebellion strengthens, Frau von Eckenbrecher returns to Germany to wait out the insurrection. Her husband eventually returns as well. Frau von Eckenbrecher never feels completely at home again in Germany. The von Eckenbrechers divorce and Frau von Eckenbrecher returns to South West Africa with her two sons. Her former husband emigrates to Paraguay. Frau von Eckenbrecher eventually takes a position in a German language school in Windhoek, the capital city, and rears her two sons there. In her book she chronicles colonial life, the natives of the colony, how the Spanish Influenza pandemic raged in Namibia, World War I in Africa, German surrender, and the South African occupation of German South West Africa and the eventual ceding of the colony to South Africa. We bring the memoir to a close with an update of Frau von Eckenbrecher's later life and death, and a short remembrance from one of her two grandsons.
Acknowledgments
Biographical Entries
A Reader's Introduction
Book I
Preface
Leaving Home 1. The First Ten Days 2. Las Palmas 3. Monrovia 4. Nifu 5. Mossamdes 6. Port Alexander 7. Swakopmund 8. The Journey to Karibib 9. Karibib 10. By Oxcart from Karibib to Okombahe
Okombahe 1. Something about the Natives of the Colony 2. The Activities of the Missionaries in the Protectorate 3. Our First Abode 4. Worries of a Housewife 5. Building Our Home 6. Future Plans and Disappointments 7. Cattle Raising 8. Gui-Gams 9. Cultivating a Garden 10. Experiences and Observations 11. Spitzkoppies
Insurrection 1. Foreboding Weather 2. The Insurrection Begins 3. A Dangerous Ride 4. In the Fortress 5. Under the Protection of the Franke Company 6. In the Barracks at Omaruru 7. My Return to Germany
Book II A Note to my Readers
The New South West 1. My Return to South West Africa 2. Our Idealic Life in Klein-Windhuk
How I Experienced the First World War 1. The Impending Storm 2. The Future is Foreshadowed in Everyday Events 3. The People of the Colony Prepare Themselves 4. Mobilization 5. South Africa Begins Hostilities 6. Treachery at Naulila 7. Our Commander Dies 8. A Punitive Expedition to Naulila 9. The Baster War 10. The Germans must be Cleared Out 11. General Botha Occupies Windhuk 12. An Honorable Surrender 13. Living under Martial Law
South West Becomes a League of Nations Mandate 1. Dissolution? 2. Expulsions 3. The Influenza Epidemic of 1918 4. Changes 5. New Unrest 6. The House on the Mountain 7. Life under Mandate Rule 8. Our German Schools 9. My Sons 10. Hunting in the African Bush and a Return to our Home in Okombahe 11. From the Brandberg to Franzfontein 12. Korichaams 13. Etoscha and the Waterberg 14. 1934: The Year of Torrential Rains 15. Of Diamonds, Gold, and other Treasures
A Concluding and Final Word
Postscript
Acknowledgments Biographical Entries A Reader's Introduction Book I Preface Leaving Home 1. The First Ten Days 2. Las Palmas 3. Monrovia 4. Nifu 5. Mossamdes 6. Port Alexander 7. Swakopmund 8. The Journey to Karibib 9. Karibib 10. By Oxcart from Karibib to Okombahe Okombahe 1. Something about the Natives of the Colony 2. The Activities of the Missionaries in the Protectorate 3. Our First Abode 4. Worries of a Housewife 5. Building Our Home 6. Future Plans and Disappointments 7. Cattle Raising 8. Gui-Gams 9. Cultivating a Garden 10. Experiences and Observations 11. Spitzkoppies Insurrection 1. Foreboding Weather 2. The Insurrection Begins 3. A Dangerous Ride 4. In the Fortress 5. Under the Protection of the Franke Company 6. In the Barracks at Omaruru 7. My Return to Germany Book II A Note to my Readers The New South West 1. My Return to South West Africa 2. Our Idealic Life in Klein-Windhuk How I Experienced the First World War 1. The Impending Storm 2. The Future is Foreshadowed in Everyday Events 3. The People of the Colony Prepare Themselves 4. Mobilization 5. South Africa Begins Hostilities 6. Treachery at Naulila 7. Our Commander Dies 8. A Punitive Expedition to Naulila 9. The Baster War 10. The Germans must be Cleared Out 11. General Botha Occupies Windhuk 12. An Honorable Surrender 13. Living under Martial Law South West Becomes a League of Nations Mandate 1. Dissolution? 2. Expulsions 3. The Influenza Epidemic of 1918 4. Changes 5. New Unrest 6. The House on the Mountain 7. Life under Mandate Rule 8. Our German Schools 9. My Sons 10. Hunting in the African Bush and a Return to our Home in Okombahe 11. From the Brandberg to Franzfontein 12. Korichaams 13. Etoscha and the Waterberg 14. 1934: The Year of Torrential Rains 15. Of Diamonds, Gold, and other Treasures A Concluding and Final Word Postscript
