Towards Sonic Resocialization Of POW-Recordings Produced In Germany During WWI

The Lautarchiv in Berlin holds a unique collection of Prisoners of War-recordings produced in Germany during World War I. Among these are 456 recordings of African POWs in German Camps, which Anette Hoffmann has identified as of particular value for the crafting of decolonial historiographies. These are also personal traces of the African speakers in Germany, as well as traces of an asymmetric constellation of knowledge production between German linguists and the speakers, under the coercive circumstances of WWI (Hoffmann 2015; 2020; 2021; 2024; Hoffmann & Mnyaka 2015). The Lautarchiv has agreed to share these historical sources in digital form, together with the rectified documentation, with the Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire in Dakar (IFAN).

The aim of the project is to facilitate the practical handover of audio recordings, together with accompanying material, in digital form to research and cultural institutions in West, North and East Africa, and to develop partnerships with a view to contextualising and translating the recordings and investigating their significance for the communities of origin. These voice recordings were made during the First World War in German prisoner-of-war camps, primarily in a camp in Wünsdorf near Berlin. For the funding body, this is a pilot project, as provenance research into voice recordings and their ‘restitution’ has not previously been a funding priority.