author
Otto W. H. Inhülsen
b. 1868
A German farmer, soldier, and memoirist, he wrote from firsthand experience of colonial East Africa and the First World War. His best-known book blends adventure, hardship, and wartime memory into a vivid personal narrative.
1 Audiobook
Wir ritten für Deutsch-Ostafrika
by Otto W. H. Inhülsen
About the author
Born in Oldenburg in 1868, Otto W. H. Inhülsen is identified in historical records as Otto Wilhelm Heinrich Inhülsen. He later lived and worked as a farmer at Olmolog on the slopes of Kilimanjaro in what was then German East Africa.
During the First World War, he was called up in 1915, served with the 9th Mounted Rifle Company, and was promoted to lieutenant in 1916. Records note that he was taken prisoner by British forces in July 1916, later held in Nairobi and Ahmednagar, and returned in 1920.
Inhülsen is remembered as the author of Wir ritten für Deutsch-Ostafrika, first published in 1926; the first edition appeared under the title Abenteuer am Kilimanjaro. The book draws on his own experiences in East Africa, combining settler life, military service, and the atmosphere of a turbulent colonial frontier. He died on October 6, 1939.