On the 2nd August 1934 Adolf Hitler became Fuhrer of Germany. From 1900 to 1920 German Samoa was a German protectorate consisting of the islands of Upolu, Savai'i, Apolima and Manono, now wholly within the independent state Samoa, formerly Western Samoa. At the behest of Great Britain the colony was invaded unopposed on the morning of 29 August 1914 by troops of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. New Zealand occupied the German colony through to 1920, then governed the islands until independence in 1962 as a League of Nations Class C Mandate and United Nations Trust Territory after 1946.

On January 15, 1934, Mr. Alfred Matthes was authorized to establish a branch of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party in Western Samoa. Following this, he began to receive literature and printed propaganda from the Auslands Abteilung (Foreign Branch) of the Nazi Party in Hamburg. On January 20, 1937, Matthes returned to Apia from the Nazi Party’s World Congress organized in Hamburg, Germany. In the same year the German consul in Wellington visited the Nazi HQ in Apia.

This highlighted file is an Island Territories file related to the Nazi organisation in Samoa. This agency was created by Archives New Zealand to describe records transferred to it by the succession of government agencies which had responsibility for Pacific Island affairs in the New Zealand Government. The file contains a number of police reports and accounts on the Nazi party in Samoa. The file provides information on how the party was monitored and of concerns the New Zealand government had at the growth of Nazi support.

To find out more information on how to access this file, consult Archway: archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=17962723