Back home they just shrugged their shoulders and made it clear that I should find something else to do fast, since I was old enough to be contributing to the family finances. Shortly after that the location shooting started for Carl Peters, a film about the controversial “colonial pioneer” who was named Reich Commissioner for the German protectorate German East Africa in 1891 and dishonorably removed in 1897. Of course, the screenplay turned him into a shining light of Nazi racial policy. And of course the role was played by the allpurpose shining light of German cinema, Hans Albers.

I don't know exactly how they went about recruiting the “exotics”, since Uncle Mohamed took charge of that, as he did of the negotiations about payment. There was an official employment agency for extras in the Grolmannstrasse, but the “exotics” weren't allowed in there. They met in a bar nearby. A certain Mr von W. played a role in recruiting them. I don't know whether money changed hands there or whether he was paid by the film companies. When “exotic” extras were needed, he heard about it, and when he turned up in the bar it usually meant work for black extras and bit-part players. Uncle Mohamed, Günther, Herbert and I were engaged as extras for Carl Peters. We three kids weren't dark enough for the director, and we were blacked up.

The location shoots took place south of Munich, in the Isar valley near Schäftlarn Abbey. During the filming the dressing rooms were in the former abbey brewhouse. We “exotics” stayed in a small hotel in Munich on the corner of Schwanthaler and Schillerstrasse, not far from the main station. Our stay must have been a pretty miserable time for the hotel. There was hardly space for other hotel guests, and if any came they didn't stay long. In 1940 autumn came early and there weren't many days on which we could film. The hotel was constantly buzzing like a beehive. Most of the doors to the rooms stood open, because we all knew each other and visited back and forth. The hotel management must have been glad when we moved on to Prague after three weeks.