Kurt Hufnagel was caught up in two political events during his life in Samoa . The first , in December 1888 , found him on the fringe of a skirmish between Samoan activists and a number of German sailors who landed at Fagali ’ i Beach , near Vailele . For his courage in this incident the Kaiser awarded Hufnagel the ‘ Kronenorden mit Schertern ’ ( Crown Order with Swords ).
In 1899 , Hufnagel was accused of setting up a proposed ambush of English and American troops on the Vailele Plantation during events surrounding the second Samoan civil war . Newspapers in Germany raged at the injustice of these accusations and the cruelty at the Captain ’ s brief internment on a British warship . For his services to Germany and Samoa , Kurt was also awarded the Order of the Red Eagle , by the Kingdom of Prussia .
This sketch of Captain Hufnagel was apparently done in 1900 by visiting German artist C . W . Allers . It captures the subject ’ s keen-eye and vitality .
Hufnagel-Betham Family Collection
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