Aleksander Dandelski in the company of members of the military expedition to German East Africa

Aleksander Dandelski (1863–1944), born in Poznań, at the age of 30 in 1893, participated as a Prussian officer in a military expedition to German East Africa, which then encompassed the present-day territory of Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi. During the expedition, he collected a range of ethnographic and natural history artefacts, which he brought back to Poland. During the interwar period, these items were displayed at the Imperial Castle in Poznań. His collection includes traditional weapons of East African tribes, hunting trophies, insignia of power, a personal travel chest, a colonial-style armchair, and an original crate in which the gathered artefacts were transported to Poland. A particularly interesting item in Dandelski’s collection is an album documenting the 1893 expedition. It contains 76 photographs featuring portraits of soldiers, sailors, local people in their traditional attire, artisans and labourers at work, porters transporting sugarcane, and even slaves. Many images depict locations in present-day Tanzania: Dar es Salaam, the ports of Bagamoyo and Saadam. In Dar es Salaam, photographs capture the governor's house built in 1893, colonial and recreational buildings, an open-frame windmill, and homes of the local population. In the ports, ships such as SMS Moeve, Vesuv, and Maa are documented. Military-related images include shots of barracks, guardhouses, and even executions, complemented by group portraits of soldiers and officers posing against local buildings. One of these group portraits shows Aleksander Dandelski in the company of fellow expedition members, all dressed in white. Dandelski, seated on the right, sits in a colonial-style chair that is chained to an adjacent chair. In the background, a local woman and native buildings can be seen. Katarzyna Findlik-Gawron