Kwami Affair

He was invited by the Norddeutsche Missionsgesellschaft in order to hold a lecture tour with sermons in Northern Germany[1] to inform the German people about Christianity in the former German colony of Togoland and to collect donations to support the young African church.

Sixty events had been planned, but due to great public interest 150 lectures and sermons were carried out in 82 towns in Lippe, East Frisia, the County of Bentheim and in the Free State of Oldenburg.

Gauleiter Carl Röver, who was also Minister-President of Oldenberg, reacted to the proposed sermon, directing racist tirades against Kwami, the Norddeutsche Mission and the supreme church council, and demanding the sermon be postponed.

[3] Concerned about the security of Robert Kwami the parish, Oldenburg Pastor Erich Hoyer sent an open letter to 35 German newspapers wherein he accused the Nazi minister of arousing hatred against the church and the initiators of the sermon and asked for an apology.

[4] In the meantime church councillor Dr. Buck, expecting uproar and violence from the Nazis, asked Oldenburg's mayor Dr. Goerlitz for police protection.