Puttkamer studied law at various schools throughout Germany, and as a young man became notorious for engaging in gambling and prostitution.

It was during these campaigns that Puttkamer and his troops committed several atrocities, including forced castrations, fatal floggings, and the kidnapping of young girls to be employed as concubines.

[2] In addition, he employed forced labor and favored the rights of white men and his troops over those of native women, which put him at odds with missionaries in the region.

[3] In response to these misdeeds, King Manga Ndumbe Bell of the Duala led a delegation of tribal chieftains to Berlin in 1902 to appeal to the German government in protest of Puttkamer's actions.

By 1906, news of Bell's arrest and the events in Kamerun had led to a public outcry, and Puttkamer was finally put on trial.