Carl Peters (film)

Carl Peters, also known as Carl Peters: The Beginning of German East Africa (Carl Peters: Anfang von Deutsch-Ostafrika), is a 1941 Nazi propaganda film directed by Herbert Selpin. The film portrays the life of Carl Peters, a German colonialist and founder of German East Africa (later Tanganyika, now part of Tanzania).

The film glorifies Peters as a national hero and a visionary, emphasizing his supposed positive contributions to Africa through trade and development, while simultaneously demonizing the British and portraying Africans as naive and easily manipulated. It presents a highly biased and revisionist account of historical events, ignoring or downplaying the brutal methods of colonization, exploitation, and violence employed by Peters and other European powers.

The film was produced during World War II with the explicit intention of fueling anti-British sentiment and justifying German expansionist policies. Its depiction of Africans as inferior and easily led aligns with Nazi racial ideology. Following the war, the film was banned in Germany for its propaganda content. It remains a controversial and historically significant example of Nazi cinema.