Transimperial Internment: Wartime Mobility between German Cameroon and Neutral Spain, 1915–1920

Abstract

During the First World War, Spain engaged in humanitarian activities, including caring for internees, to substantiate its neutrality. On the African front, Spain’s small Central African territory became a refuge for German troops as the French and British seized control of Cameroon. By bringing together voices from Germany, Britain, and Spain, as well as some Cameroonian perspectives, the article offers a fresh narrative about the transcontinental and transimperial experience of internment. The retreating German army collectively became the first European ‘refugees’ in Africa. This article surveys the multiple stages of their internment journey: the retreat from Cameroon into Spanish Guinea, internment on the island of Fernando Po and then in mainland Spain, and their eventual return to Germany or Cameroon, with some choosing to stay in Spain.Their experiences were transimperial not simply because they crossed imperial borders, but also because the infrastructure and conditions of internment conformed to a shared imperial ‘archive’ for the treatment of Europeans in captivity on African soil. The article also examines the lingering echoes of internment in the post-war period. By contributing to an overlooked case, this study aligns with broader efforts to globalise scholarship on the First World War, showcasing internment as a key example of the war’s global effects.