Herero massacre
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The Herero massacre occurred in German South-West Africa (modern day Namibia) in 1904-1907 and is considered one of the worst atrocities in German colonial history.
In 1904 the Hereros revolted and killed about 120 Germans, destroying their farms.
In the same year General Lothar von Trotha was dispatched with a force of 10,000 volunteers to resolve the crisis. He issued an appeal to the Hereros:
I, the great general of the German soldiers, send this letter to the Herero nation. The Hereros are no longer German subjects. They have murdered and robbed, they have cut off the ears and noses and privy parts of wounded soldiers, and they are now too cowardly to fight. I say to the nation: Any person who delivers one of the Herero captains as a captive to a military post will receive 1,000 Marks. The one who hands over Samuel will receive 5,000 Marks. All Herero must leave the country. If they do not, I will force them with cannons to do so. Within the German frontier every Herero, with or without a rifle, with or without cattle, will be shot. I will not take over any more women and children, but I will either drive them back to your people or have them fired on. These are my words to the nation of the Hereros. The great General of the Mighty Emperor, von Trotha.
German forces met the 3000-5000 Herero combatants at the Waterberg and shot them indiscriminately. The survivors retreated with their families towards Bechuanaland, after the British offered the Hereros asylum under the condition not to continue the revolt on British soil.
The German troops, however, were badly infected with Typhus and Cholera and were unable to pursue them.
Some 24,000 Hereros managed to flee through a gap in the netting into the Kalahari Desert in the hope of crossing into Botswana. German patrols later found skeletons around holes (25-50 feet deep) dug up in a vain attempt to find water. Survivors, mostly women and children, were coralled in to concentration camps - many of them died from lack of food, shelter or care. The conflict continued until 1907, by which time some 40,000 Hereros had perished. Chief Samuel Maherero and 1000 men crossed the Kalahari into Bechuanaland.
It should be noted however, that there are no absolutely reliable casualty figures for the Hereros, largely because the German administration never conducted a census before 1904. Only in 1905 did a counting take place which revealed that 25,000 Herero remained in German South-West Africa. It is therefore out of question that the Herero suffered a great deal through the conduct of the German forces and their general.
In 1998, German President Roman Herzog visited Namibia and met Herero leaders. Chief Munjuku Ngunvanva demanded a public apology and compensation. Herzog expressed regret but stopped short of an apology. He also pointed out that reparations were out of the question.
On the 100th anniversary in 2004, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Germany's development aid minister officially apologized for the first time and expressed grief about the genocide committed by Germans.
See also
External links
- Germany Refuses to Apologize for Herero Holocaust (BlackVoices - October 14, 2002) (http://archive.blackvoices.com/articles/daily/index_20021014.asp)
- Germany apologizes (http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,2763,1283864,00.html)de:Aufstand der Herero und Nama