Random Things Of Decades Before Holocaust, Germany Practiced Genocide On Two African Nations (12 items)

• 

  (#7) A German Army Chased The Herero Into The Desert

  In August of 1904, just six months after the Herero revolt, a German army clashed with the Herero. The Africans, unable to match the military might of the German colonizers, fled into the Omaheke desert. The waterless wasteland couldn't support the Herero, who expired from thirst and starvation.

  By then, General von Trotha had issued his extermination order. He declared that the Herero would not be allowed to return to German Southwest Africa. Further, they were no longer subjects under German rule, and they would not be allowed to surrender. 
• 

  (#12) This Proves That The Holocaust Was Not An Isolated Incident

  The Germans believed that their harsh tactics were justified in order to maintain colonial control over Namibia. But their actions devastated the Herero and Namaqua societies. As many as 80,000 Herero were lost, and 10,000 Namaqua also lost their lives, which nearly annihilated both groups. As much as 80% of the entire Herero population was wiped out.

  The loss of the Herero and Namaqua shares a number of characteristics with the Holocaust, from the attempt to exterminate an entire people to the concentration camps featuring forced labor, starvation, and medical experiments. The Holocaust was not an isolated incident––the Germans had practiced their tactics during the time of the Herero and Namaqua.
• 

  (#9) The German General Ordered Every Man Eliminated

  General Lothar von Trotha gave the extermination order on October 2, 1904: "Every Herero on German territory, with or without rifles, with or without cattle, will be shot. I'm not taking in any more women and children, drive them back to their people or have them shot."

  For the next three years, Herero and Namaqua men were eliminated on sight. Women and children were shipped off to concentration camps where they were forced to labor. They labor was utilized to build colonial projects like railways, docks, and buildings. A number of buildings still standing in Namibia today were constructed by these prisoners. 
• 

  (#11) The Genocide Wasn't The First Clash Between Germans And Namibians

  Germans declared Southwest Africa a colonial territory in 1884. Their first move was to seize land from the local inhabitants. The Herero were a major target because they were more powerful than the Germans. Theodor Leutwein, the colonial governor, said, "the lands must obviously be transferred from the hands of the natives to those of the Whites. This is the goal of the colonization of the territory. Whites must occupy the lands. Therefore, the natives must leave and become servants or will have to go away."

  In 1897, a cattle plague struck the area, culling up to 90% of the Herero herds. With the Herero weakened, the Germans enforced their colonial agenda.
• 

  (#6) German Propaganda Justified Their Actions By Claiming White Women Were In Danger

  The Germans justified their genocidal tactics by claiming that the Africans were targeting helpless white women. Just as thousands of lynchings were carried out in America because white men claimed the misdeeds were necessary to protect white women, German propaganda declared that white women were in danger.

  These claims were exaggerated. The revolt against the German occupation only saw a loss of athree white women—the Herero fighters intentionally spared women and children, even offering them protection. Images of white women threatened by violent Africans were merely propaganda to convince Germans that their actions were justified.
• 

  (#3) The Germans Tainted Wells And Eliminated Children

  The Germans wanted to crack down on their colonial subjects. After the Herero revolt, General von Trotha ordered, "The nation of the Herero should immediately leave the country, because they are no longer considered German citizens... I am not going to show mercy to anyone."

  He tainted watering holes so that the Herero who fled to the desert would die of thirst. His troops eradicated people on sight. And according to a 1918 report from an eyewitness, the German soldiers disposed of unarmed women and children. 

New Random Displays    Display All By Ranking