This article presents an almost unknown chapter of Dutch-German colonial history: the participation of German medical practitioners in the colonial health service of the Dutch East Indies. In the period of investigation (1816-1884) around 320 Germans could be identified, who were employed in this service as military or civil doctors, as well as apothecaries. In the first part some general aspects of the topic are outlined, such as the current state of research, the definition of subject matter and time frame. In the second part, use will be made of the complementary terms “cooperation” and “competition” for illustrating both the motivation of the Germans for entering colonial health service, and the methods which were applied in order to recruit Germans for this service.