Post #631838 by TikiTomD on Mon, Apr 9, 2012 4:12 PM

Before Dr. Wilhelm Solf (Dr. Funk’s old boss) left his post as Imperial Governor of German (Western) Samoa in late 1910, Christian Wilhelm Allers, a well-known German artist, made a portrait of him while in Apia, dated April 22, 1910, that clearly shows his dueling scars (“schmiss”)...

Thirteen years later found Dr. Solf in Tokyo as German Ambassador to Japan at the moment when the devastating 1923 Yokohama earthquake hit in the midst of a typhoon...

Southeast Missourian September 6, 1923 (page 1)

Back in Samoa at the time, the native Samoans were extremely unhappy with the way New Zealand was administering the protectorate and longed for the old days when Germany ruled the colony under Dr. Solf. Having learned that Dr. Solf survived the earthquake in Japan, a group of Samoan chiefs sent him telegrams begging for his return as their Governor, according to Hempenstall and Mochida in The Lost Man – Wilhelm Solf in German History, as well as Hermann Hiery in his 1995 book The Neglected War: The German South Pacific and the Influence of World War I, excerpted below...

The Samoan warriors in the photo below appear to be in an ugly mood. They’ve likely had their fill of the crazy papalagi (foreigners) and their rules, so heads are about to be taken. Photo, dated ca 1900, is a post by ookami_dou (Wolfgang Wiggers) on Flickr...

-Tom