Click here for German translation

4 May 2006, 7:00pm
Ethnologisches Museum (Museum of Ethnology) Berlin

Germans in Southeast Asia: the history of a European minority in Penang, Malaysia

Khoo Salma Nasution

Public lecture and presentation of new book

'MORE THAN MERCHANTS: A History of the German-speaking Community in Penang 1800s-1940s,' published in 2006

German investors and tourists to Penang, Malaysia, today may not realize that the seaport had a small, energetic community of German and Swiss traders a hundred years ago and attracted famous visitors like Herman Hesse, Hans Sturzenegger and Karl May. The German-speaking merchants used the seaport of Penang as a gateway to Southern Thailand, the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra and unduly influenced Anglo-Siamese politics in Southern Thailand. A few Germans made immense contributions to public life as well as engineering, architecture, photography and postcard publishing in this part of British Malaya.

The Great Wars in Europe had great repercussions for the overseas Germans. During the First World War, the harbour of Penang was raided by the legendary S.M.S. Emden, and in reprisal, the British interned German nationals and confiscated their properties. Faced with liquidation, German companies were taken over by their Swiss associates. During the Second World War, Penang served as a secret U-boat base during the Second World War, where the Kriegsmarine cooperated with the Japanese Navy to terrorize Allied shipping in the Indian Ocean.

The author Khoo Salma Nasution is an independent scholar based in Penang. She has written seven books on various aspects of Malaysian cultural heritage, social history and ethno-history. For her heritage work, she has received citations from UNESCO and World Monuments Fund, New York. She was an Asian Public Intellectual (API) fellow of the Nippon Foundation.

Useful Links

• www.lestariheritage.net

• www.arecabooks.com

• www.mandailing.org

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The City as an Open Classroom: Diversity & Dynamism in Urban Conservation

Asian Heritage Cities Triangle project

8-10 January, 2006
Penang, Malaysia

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