Philippine-German Relations (II)
The former German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher has stressed: “Our world today has become small, increasingly and inevitably, it is growing together to form one large entity in which all nations are mutually dependent on each other…”. And how looks reality nowadays?
As a German, living in the Philippines, I was always interested to learn more about the first Germans, who came to this wonderful country. As we can learn from Hermogenes E. Bacareza:
“At the beginning of the 20th century, Germans came to the Philippines individually or in groups. Whether in government service, in academic pursuit or in missionary activity, these people found in the Philippines a new home with a new environment. Most of them spent their whole life in the country and contributed in some way to her progress and development. Good examples are: Henry Gilhouser and/or Otto J. Scheerer (1858-1938), a young man from Hamburg, who made a name for himself in the Philippines. After finishing high school in Hamburg he came to the Philippines at the age of 22 and lived in Manila, working in one of the German firms. When he got sick, he sold is factory in Manila and moved to the cooler mountain province, which in 1896 became the City of Baguio.”
Another German author, Kurt Titze wrote about Scheerer:
“The Pines Hotel in Baguio, the biggest one in this place, was very impressive. Its architecture reminded one of Bavaria and Switzerland. The founder of the hotel (Otto Scheerer) was one of the few Germans who had great influence on the development of the Philippines”.
Scheerer published many books and specific articles in the Philippine Journal of Education (1924), in the Philippine Journal of Science (1926) or among many more “The Batan Dialect as a Member of the Philippine Group of Languages” (Manila, 1908).
(To be continued!)
Hi Klaus. I read some years ago about the Spanish-American War.
When Commodore ( he was not a commodore yet then) Dewey confronted the Spanish Armada in Manila Bay in 1898, The German Armada was a few kilometers away with the pretrext as just observers in the fight and to learn from it. Dewey apparently was angry about this as he thought that the Germans were just waiting for the Americans and the Spaniards to decimate each other then they (the Germans) take over the islands.
This was the American version of the events of course. The German Armada disappeared from the horizon when it was clear that Dewey was annihilating the Spanish Armada.
It will be interesting to know what the German politicians were thinking at that time. To note, the Dutch were in the now Indonesia; the French were in Indochina (Vietnam, etc); the English were in Hongkong and China. It wouldl not be paranoid for the Americans to think that the Germans wanted to take over the Philippines from the Spaniards to have a taste of being a Colonizer.
Just my two cents to support your contention that Germans had been in the Phlippines since the 1800’s.
Hi Dr. Sponk Long, very interesting question. I will try to research and let you and all the other readers know as soon as possible. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
Dr. Sponk Long and all the others, please visit my blog and read the next part of “Philippine German Relations” during the next days.