Die Philippinen—a what-if scenario

By Noralyn O. Dudt

IT WAS 1898 at the Parque de  Luneta—a huge 140 acre (58 hectares)—park  overlooking the Manila Bay. Kommandant Krueger monitored the placement of the large statue of Kaiser Wilhelm II, offset from Jose Rizal's. His aides were putting up new signs. It was going to be the "Kaiser Wilhelm und Jose Rizal Stadtgarten." It had taken several days to remove the "Paseo de Luneta and Paseo Maria Cristina" signs along the way and replaced them with "Kaiser Wilhelm PrachtStrasse." From what he could see, it would be difficult to properly teach these natives proper respect for the Kaiser and to ferret out their resistance. It pained him that there was so little enthusiasm for cooperation especially after completion of a German non-aggression treaty with Japan. He has been quite certain that the Philippines would have a brighter future as a German protectorate.

Vice Admiral Otto von Diederichs

That's a scenario that has been going on in my head. What if the German Asiatic Squadron under the command of Vice Admiral Otto von Diederichs did not move away from the American Commodore Dewey's fleet on that day in May of 1898  on Manila Bay?  Had the German Vice Admiral really known how Commodore Dewey really felt  and how alarmed  he was to see the German squadron of five warships and two auxiliaries that easily outnumbered his men, the vice admiral  may not have withdrawn his troops.  Dewey later confessed about feeling so intimidated that he ordered a blockade of Manila on that same day.

It had only  been 28 years since Chancellor Otto von Bismarck gathered the 39 individual states together in 1871 and created the nation of Germany under Kaiser Wilhelm the 1^st. Politically, Germany was still a new nation by 1898.  Kaiser Wilhelm I wanted a "place in the sun" and was trying to play catch-up with the  British and French in acquiring colonies—coaling stations—around the world. Germany  just acquired Namibia in southwest Africa and New Guinea in the Pacific a decade earlier. If the United States was not going to annex the Philippines, the Germans were apparently itching to do so. "Die Philippinen" would be a prized possession.  A German division in Hongkong under the command of Prince Henry of Prussia had been on standby.  The American Commodore Dewey and the German Prince Henry had met and although they had been cordial to each other, Prince Henry was apprehensive about the United States' ambitions and  just might "snatch the plum" for which Germany was trying to reach. According to a November 1955 article in the Proceedings by the U.S. Naval Institute, Prince Henry was heard to say to Commodore Dewey at a banquet, "what would you want in the event of Spain's defeat?"

A Philippines under German protectorate would have had geopolitical implications.  Her territorial waters are the shipping routes to Japan and Korea. Without these routes, no ship would ever reach northeast Asia. With her strategic location along these sea lanes,  the Philippines  was a "treasure" to be had.

It was in the Philippines where Spain based her Asiatic mercantile fleet. Spain's galleons sailed across the vast Pacific from the Port of Manila to Acapulco which was then called New Spain for 250 years (1565-1815). Manila had one of the best ports for trade  at the time. The spices, porcelain and other treasures that the galleons carried enriched  Spain's treasury in Madrid immensely.

A Deutscher (German) Philippinen would not have been invaded by Japan in the Second World War.  The Japanese and the Germans were allies. Could this alliance have yielded a different outcome of the war in the  Pacific? There would have been no General Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines. He would definitely not be returning. A German Philippines would have had no Filipino soldiers and guerillas fighting for the United States. Japan would have had an easier time in her conquest of Southeast Asia and in attaining her goal of the "Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere"  with Germany on her side.  This was a dynamic that  would have produced  a world completely different from what  we know today.  Ahh,  the what-ifs... and the would-have-beens….

Meanwhile,  Kommandant Krueger and his crew just finished plastering the plaque on Dr. Jose Rizal's statue at the renamed Kaiser Wilhelm und Jose Rizal Stadtgarten.  The plaque reads,                                           

DR. JOSE RIZAL

(1861-1896)

       JOSE RIZAL  IST EIN NATIONALHELD  DER PHILIPPINEN. ER WAR EIN ARTZ UND EIN DICHTER.  ALS REFORMER VERURTEILTE ER DAS KOLONIALREGIME SPANIENS, GLAUBTE ABER AUCH AN DEN GEWALTLOSEN WIDERSTAND. SEINE AUTOBIOGRAPHIE, DIE ER WAEHREND SEINES AUFENTHALTES IN WILHELMSFELD FERTIGSTELLTE, PRAEGTE SEINEN ROMAN "NOLI ME TANGERE"

"National Hero of the Philippines,  a doctor and a poet. As a Reformer. he condemned  the Spanish colonial regime but  stood for nonviolent resistance.  He completed his autobiography,  characterized in  his novel "Noli Me Tangere" in Wilhelmsfeld,  Germany."

A statue of Dr. Rizal  in Wilhelmsfeld, a town  within the shadow of the renowned UniversitaetHeidelberg demonstrated that the Germans had a very high regard for the young man who possessed exceptional courage and skills to write thought-provoking novels against the mighty Spanish Crown. Rizal was in Heidelberg to advance  his knowledge and skills  in the praxis of ophthalmology under the tutelage of the renowned Herr Dr. Otto Beck, a UniversitaetHeidelberg professor who pioneered ophthalmic pathology and authored numerous writings on the eye.  It was in Berlin where his novel "Noli Me Tangere" was first printed. The Germans must have admired this young man of superior intelligence that their depiction of the statue they built for him was that of a man who was standing tall  and in deep thought. Would they have extended this high regard to the land and  the people who nurtured this man?  

Kommandant Krueger and his crew moved on. They had other signage to replace—the papal university of Santo Tomas that was founded in 1611, was going to be renamed Universitaet Sankt Thomas. The Germans had ambitious  designs—they wanted to make this institution of higher learning a world-class institution for the study of Medical Science, Chemistry, Physics and Engineering.  By the late 19th century, Germany's leadership in chemical research in the universities and industrial laboratories made the country dominant in the world's chemical industry. Germany's engineers had a stellar reputation worldwide. Her prowess in engineering has been indisputable.  Engineers who were trained in the country's institutions have been world leaders in their field, renowned for their dedication to precision,  function and power. Ahhh...the what-ifs... and the would-have-beens....

The what-ifs...the could-have-been....the would-have-been....one could keep pondering.

Of course, Germany was not to be the colonial Master of the Philippines.

It was the United States of America...and the rest is history.

Germany did come later...in 1911 but not with her military squadrons. It was  through a very dedicated group of priests of the CICM Order that was founded in neighboring Belgium.  It was not to "colonize" but to share what God had endowed her citizens  with:  a noble purpose and the funds to pursue  Sapientia Aedificat (Wisdom Builds) by establishing a college that eventually  became  the Saint Louis University of Baguio City. The massive Engineering Building was named after Herr Professor Otto Hahn who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1944. The well-equipped Science Building was named after Herr Konrad Adenauer, a former Chancellor of Germany and a well-respected statesman. And not to forget the esteemed  Dr. Jose Rizal whose name is on the 9-storey building that is the Saint Louis University Library. A scenario no longer...they were real events that shaped a university into the high caliber institution that has been producing good doctors and engineers... just as its founders envisioned in the University logo: SAPIENTIA AEDIFICAT....WISDOM BUILDS.

 

Special thanks to my friend Frau Erika Lange of Northern Germany for her advice and input into my German translation.

Noralyn Onto Dudt has been retired for two years  but still has fond memories of the time she spent studying and working in the well-equipped labs on the 3rd floor of the Adenauer Science Building when she attended Saint Louis University of Baguio City over 5 decades ago.