Johann Karl Vietor- a “good” merchant?

In the Spiegel article “Zwiespältiges Erbe” the German Johann Karl Vietor is described as a human merchant who just employed volunteers because of his Christianity. So he wanted free and mature black citizen able to consume. Moreover, the good relationship in some cases between black and white is mentioned.

But by having a closer look to Vietors aims one can consider him also as racist.

Of course he really was Christian, against slavery and also against forced labour. So on the surface he really seems to be a “good” merchant protecting the black people.

But Vietor also had the basic principle to educate the black to culture by labour. In his case this attitude means that he wanted to give them fields to farm by their own, to raise taxes, buy their products, help them by small loans, give them literacy for culture and delight them by Christianity. The principle of mission and also to let them produce raw materials to export was included in his attitude, too. Moreover, he avoided the formation of labour organizations and revolts because several single workers could not form up.

All things considered certainly merchants like Vietor are better for the black population than the other cruel colonists. But the firm conviction that the whites are “better” and have the right to occupy the land and also that the African cultures are “lower cultures” and have to be replaced by the “real culture” of the whites including Christianity is shown in Vietors attitude. So I would not call him a good merchant but maybe a better merchant.

source, © of the picture