GERMANY. Weimar Republic. The "Gesslerhut" on the Palatinate Cast Bronze Medal, 1920. CHOICE UNCIRCULATED.58mm; 61.89 gms. Kienast-265. By K. Goetz. Obverse: Fasces (symbolic of France) surmounted by helmet; French colonial troops harassing the local German populace; Reverse: Large arm (symbolic of French authority) emerging from the ground, ensnaring nude German female who is harassed by French colonial troops. Edge: KGOETZ. Deep brown surfaces, with a slightly glossy nature.<p><p>Following Germanys defeat in World War I, French and British troops occupied portions of Germany to ensure that reparations would be repaid. In some areas such as the Rhineland, France utilized colonial troops from North Africa for patrolling and occupying-possibly serving as an act of further humiliation-making the local Germans be subject to those who were, in turn, subject to a colonial power. Within Germany, however, sentiments became overtly racialized, with anti-African propaganda found everywhere in the print media, with caricatures and stereotypes endlessly employed. This biased and unfounded campaign even found its way into numismatics, with many medals featuring iconography that reveals these feelings. At the forefront was the belief that African troops, oversexed and primal, were ravaging German women. Though this campaign subsided in the early 1930s, it certainly wasnt the first appearance of this form of racism, and certainly wouldnt be the last.</em>
