A willingness to accept responsibility and a strong loyalty to the country of his birth saw Rudolf Berking take a leading role in maintaining German interests in Samoa and attending to the welfare of Samoa ’ s remaining German citizens and their families . The number of Germans in Samoa had shrunk by about threequarters after the post-war repatriations to Germany in 1919 , and the forced deportation of around 180 Germans ( including children ) by the NZ Administration in Samoa in June 1920 .
This photo shows Berking as the leading pallbearer at a major turn-out of Germans and other citizens at Magiagi
Cemetery , in Apia , in August 1933 at the burial of Mr Ernst Friedrich Reye , long-time Apia resident and former personal assistant to German Governors Solf and Schultz . Others in the photo ( left-to-right ) are Mr Robert Wetzell , Mr Augustus Betham ( dark jacket ), Mr Friedrich ‘ Fritz ’ Stünzner , Mr John Netzler and in the white suit Mr Raimund Reye .
| To Walk Under Palm Trees - The Germans in Samoa : Snapshots from Albums | Tony Brunt
Reye Family Collection
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