Let us die fighting

Shark Island, in Shark Bay (obviously) in what was at one time German South-West Africa is famous as a centre for scuba-diving but it has another, less savoury past - it was the site of the first “death camp” in modern history. It's a common occurrence to find human bones with manacles attached washed up on the beaches.

I only recently found out about this through the traditional method - buying a bunch of books at a charity shop – one of these books was “Let Us Die Fighting: the Struggle of the Herero and Nama against German Imperialism, 1884-1915,” by Horst Drechsler. Reading that sent me on a search for more information.

Briefly, In late 1903, some Namaqua tribes rose in revolt against German colonial rule (which seems to have been even more brutal than most). In January 1904, the Herero people (originally a tribe of cattle herders living in Namibia.) also rebelled . The average German settler seemed to view the natives as a source of cheap labour - just as most other white settlers in Africa did. Among the reasons for this rebellion were the seizure of the cattle on which the native economy was based, land rights and a new policy on debt collection.

In 1894, Theodor Leutwein became governor of the territory. His policies with the native Africans, which he called the "Leutwein System", was a mixture of diplomacy and military coercion. His relationship with the indigenous tribes was tenuous at best. Conversely, he was often criticised by German colonists as being too lenient with the Africans.

The new debt collection system he introduced in late 1903, is described in the extract from Wiki:-

For many years, the Herero population had been in the habit of borrowing money from white traders at great interest. For a long time, much of this debt went uncollected, as most Hereros lived modestly and had no means to pay. To correct this growing problem, Governor Leutwein decreed with good intentions that all debts not paid within the next year would be voided.[16] In the absence of hard cash, traders would often seize cattle, or whatever objects of value they could get their hands on, in order to recoup their loans. This fostered a feeling of resentment towards the Germans on the part of the Herero people, which escalated to hopelessness when they saw that German officials were complicit in this scheme.[12]

The Herero fought a guerilla war, which the German troops in the area could not cope with. Leutwein was forced to ask Berlin for reinforcements and Lieutenant-General Lothar von Trotha was appointed Commander in Chief of German South-West Africa on May 3, arriving with a force of 14,000 troops on June 11. This von Trotha was, by his own account, a genocidal racist. He said "My intimate knowledge of many central African tribes (Bantu and others) has everywhere convinced me of the necessity that the Negro does not respect treaties but only brute force"

He also said "I believe that the nation as such should be annihilated, or, if this was not possible by tactical measures, have to be expelled from the country...This will be possible if the water-holes from Grootfontein to Gobabis are occupied. The constant movement of our troops will enable us to find the small groups of nation who have moved backwards and destroy them gradually."

In October 1904, before the Battle of Waterberg, von Trotha issued a Vernichtungsbefehl (extermination order) which included the following "Within the German borders, every Herero, whether armed or unarmed, with or without cattle, will be shot. I shall not accept any more women or children. I shall drive them back to their people — otherwise I shall order shots to be fired at them."

His orders for this battle specified that his troops were to surround the Herero on three sides, leaving them an escape route into the Omahekke (part of the Kalahari desert). He also poisoned the water-holes.

He didn't stop there though, he instituted a series of measures which were later industrialised by Nazi Germany. These measures? Simply this – Death Camps.

There were five of these in what is now Namibia, the biggest of which was probably Shark Island. Wiki again:-

Survivors, mostly women and children, were eventually put in concentration camps, such as that at Shark Island. The German authorities gave each Herero a number and meticulously recorded every death, whether in the camps or from forced labor, even including the name of each dead person in their reports. German enterprises were able to rent Hereros in order to use their manpower, and workers' deaths were permitted and even reported to the German authorities. Forced labour, disease, and malnutrition killed an estimated 50–80% of the entire Herero population by 1908, when the camps were closed.

An official report on the camps in 1908 described the mortality rate as 45.2% of all prisoners held in the five camps. The prisoners were fenced in, either by thorn-bush fences or by barbed wire, and people were typically crammed into small areas. The Windhoek camp held about 5000 prisoners of war in 1906. Food rations were minimal, consisting of a daily allowance of a handful of uncooked rice, some salt and water. Rice was an unfamiliar foodstuff to the Herero and Namaqua people, and the uncommon diet may have contributed to the high death rate.

An unintended result of these camps may have been the racial purity nonsense perpetrated by the Nazis, as a certain Eugen Fischer, a noted geneticist (at this time genetics pretty much equalled eugenics) visited these camps to carry out medical experiments based on racial grounds. He wrote a couple of books which had great influence on Nazi racial theories. These were “Foundations of Human Hereditary Teaching and Racial Hygiene “ and “The Rehoboth Bastards and the Problem of Miscegenation among Humans “.

From 1927 to 1933, he (Fischer) was head of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics, where one of his students was a Dr. Joseph Mengele.

All statements attributed to von Trotha come from “Herero Heroes: A Socio-Political History of the Herero of Namibia 1890 – 1923,” by J.B. Gewald (thank god for the NLS).

This link gives another perspective: http://www.namibweb.com/hererohol.htm

Read: 'The Kaiser's Genocide' to learn more on this subject.

Originally posted by Nick1986 I've heard about the Herero Genocide. Were the Germans responsible ever brought to justice?

Why would they be? They were acting within the perceived mores of society at the time (white = superior, black = subhuman).

Originally posted by lirelou Chookie, I have one problem with your post. One the one hand, you quote a source who says that Sharks' Bay was a death camp, and further on you provide other sources who describe the prisoners being rented out for labor, and generally employed in some works. At one point, theya re described as prisoners of war. A death camp is precisely that.

While I don't entirely disagree with you, the actual terminology applied to the camps isn't all that important. Remember the Nazis had Prisoner of War camps. Labour camps and Extermination camps. There wasn't a cigarette papers difference between the last two. The inhabitants of Labour camps were worked to death.

Originally posted by lirelou Nevertheless, we should not conflate the Germans of Namibia in the early 1900's with the Nazi's of 1933-45, unless a strong case can be made to the contrary.

I think a very strong case can be made. I referred to a Dr. Eugen Fischer who wrote a couple of books after visiting these camps and carrying out "experiments". these books were were “Foundations of Human Hereditary Teaching and Racial Hygiene “ and “The Rehoboth Bastards and the Problem of Miscegenation among Humans “. From 1927 to 1933, he (Fischer) was head of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics, where one of his students was a Dr. Joseph Mengele.

I would call that a strong case, circumstantial, but strong.

Originally posted by lirelou but I am inclined to judge German practices in Namibia in light of British practices in nearby South Africa at a much closer point in time.

You have a point, but I'm inclined to put the deaths in the British concentration camps down to total incompetence on the British side. Nonetheless, to me a mortality rate of over 45% equals a death camp Imo.