Windhoek Concentration Camp
Encyclopedia
After the battle of Waterberg
, in which the Schutztruppers of German South West Africa used machine guns and cannons to force the indigenous Herero
into the Omaheke Desert, then used Maxim machine guns to prevent the Herero from gaining access to water (or poisoned the water wells), the Herero who did not die in the desert were collected and placed into concentration camps such as one of the two camps at Windhoek
. The Herero were first placed in the Otjihaenena Collection Camp.
, director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics
(KWI-A). Fischer also worked closely for many years with his old friend Baron Ottmar von Verschuer, who was his successor at the KWI-A. It is indisputable that Eugen Fischer was fully apprised of the activities of the Nazis.
Paul Rohrbach was the Settlements Commissioner in GSWA. Concerned with
miscegenation, he is quoted as follows:
Independent of what was happening in German South West Africa, in 1918
the Germans had invaded the Ukraine while people like Symon Petliura
were also trying to establish an independent Ukraine. Rohrbach worked
with Field Marshal Hermann von Eichhorn
, commander of the German forces
in the Ukraine, to install General Pavel Petrovitch Skoropadski as "Hetman
n" of the Ukraine.
During the Third Reich, German colonists from German East Africa were moved
into Polish land "annexed" in 1939, displacing Poles (the indigenous population),
Jews and Gypsies. This new settlement area was called the Reichsgau
Wartheland
; as the people in Poland and the Ukraine were considered inferior, they could thus be exterminated and replaced with Germans from the former African colonies and other places.
Also active both in Deutsch-Südwestafrika and in Nazi Germany were two members of a well-known family: Heinrich Ernst Göring
and Hermann Göring
.
Franz Ritter von Epp also straddled both the Second Reich and the Third Reich. He served as a company
commander in the German colony Deutsch-Südwestafrika, where he took part in the bloody Herero and Namaqua Genocide
. Von Epp also served as the NSDAP's head of its Military-Political Office from 1928 to 1945, and later as leader of the German Colonial Society, an organization devoted to regaining Germany's lost colonies.
Several other notable members of the NSDAP received their initial education repressing people in German colonies, including:
The bridge between the the Second Reich and the Third Reich was through Germany's African colonial empire! See German Ost (East)
.
, Nama
, Damara
) in order to seize their land to encourage settlement of German farmers; nor was it to seize or kill the cattle. Leutwein's objective was not genocide, and he was wise enough to realize that the indigenous population could be used as a labor supply. However, such Flavian tactics left Leutwein open to attack at home, with a public who wanted the instant gratification of a decisive defeat of the indigenous peoples of German South West Africa. (This was the same problem Augustus Flavius had with the Roman public, who wanted him to quickly defeat Hannibal.) As a consequence, Leutwein was pushed aside by Kaiser Wilhelm II and replaced by Lothar von Trotha
, already known for his brutality in China as well as German East Africa. The result was the genocide of the indigenous population, the economic ruin of German South West Africa, and the eventual loss of the German colonial empire.
As a consequence of this failed, brutal policy, Trotha was forced to leave German South West Africa and replaced by Friedrich von Lindequist, who completed the genocide with the use of extermination camps and concentration camps. In order for this policy to be acceptable at home, propaganda was employed. The claim was made that the 'barbaric' indigenous population wished to murder defenseless women and children. In fact, only four German women were killed, and one German child.
One of the following images has been censored, though it appears in many books and is in the public domain; see Jurgen Zimmerer, Joachim Zeller and E. J. Neather, "Genocide in German South-West Africa: The Colonial War of 1904-1908 and Its Aftermath", Merlin Press (December 1, 2007), p. 137.
are highlighted in blue, Collection or Work camps are unmarked.
One should bear in mind that the above table of concentration camps, extermination camps and collection or work camps did not exhaust all the other places where indigenous people were interned.
The Herero and Namaqua genocide
has been recognised by the United Nations and by the German Federal Republic
. At the 100th anniversary of the camp's foundation, German Minister for Economic Development and Cooperation Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul
commemorated the dead on-site and apologised for the camp on behalf of Germany.
Battle of Waterberg
The Battle of Waterberg took place on August 11, 1904 in Waterberg, German South-West Africa , and was the decisive battle in the German campaign against the Herero.-The armies:...
, in which the Schutztruppers of German South West Africa used machine guns and cannons to force the indigenous Herero
Herero
The Herero are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group inhabiting parts of Southern Africa. The majority reside in Namibia, with the remainder found in Botswana and Angola. About 240,000 members are alive today.-General:...
into the Omaheke Desert, then used Maxim machine guns to prevent the Herero from gaining access to water (or poisoned the water wells), the Herero who did not die in the desert were collected and placed into concentration camps such as one of the two camps at Windhoek
Windhoek
Windhoek is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level. The 2001 census determined Windhoek's population was 233,529...
. The Herero were first placed in the Otjihaenena Collection Camp.
Bridging the Second and Third Reichs in German South West Africa
There was at least one German citizen who visited German South West Africa during the period between 1904 and 1908, as well as working closely with the Nazi Party in Germany (straddling the Second Reich and Third Reich): Eugen FischerEugen Fischer
Eugen Fischer was a German professor of medicine, anthropology and eugenics. He was director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics between 1927 and 1942...
, director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics
Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics
The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics was founded in 1927. The Rockefeller Foundation supported both the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Psychiatry and the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity and Eugenics...
(KWI-A). Fischer also worked closely for many years with his old friend Baron Ottmar von Verschuer, who was his successor at the KWI-A. It is indisputable that Eugen Fischer was fully apprised of the activities of the Nazis.
Paul Rohrbach was the Settlements Commissioner in GSWA. Concerned with
miscegenation, he is quoted as follows:
"In order to secure the peaceful White settlement against the bad,
culturally inept and predatory native tribe, it is possible that its
actual eradication may become necessary under certain conditions."
Independent of what was happening in German South West Africa, in 1918
the Germans had invaded the Ukraine while people like Symon Petliura
were also trying to establish an independent Ukraine. Rohrbach worked
with Field Marshal Hermann von Eichhorn
Hermann von Eichhorn
Hermann von Eichhorn was a Prussian general.-Biography:Eichhorn was born in Breslau in the Province of Silesia...
, commander of the German forces
in the Ukraine, to install General Pavel Petrovitch Skoropadski as "Hetman
Hetman
Hetman was the title of the second-highest military commander in 15th- to 18th-century Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which together, from 1569 to 1795, comprised the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Rzeczpospolita....
n" of the Ukraine.
During the Third Reich, German colonists from German East Africa were moved
into Polish land "annexed" in 1939, displacing Poles (the indigenous population),
Jews and Gypsies. This new settlement area was called the Reichsgau
Reichsgau
A Reichsgau was an administrative subdivision created in a number of the areas annexed to Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1945...
Wartheland
Reichsgau Wartheland
Reichsgau Wartheland was a Nazi German Reichsgau formed from Polish territory annexed in 1939. It comprised the Greater Poland and adjacent areas, and only in part matched the area of the similarly named pre-Versailles Prussian province of Posen...
; as the people in Poland and the Ukraine were considered inferior, they could thus be exterminated and replaced with Germans from the former African colonies and other places.
"... Hitler, Darré, and other Nazi ideologues played down overseas colonialism and concentrated instead on contiguous German settlements in Eastern Europe and especially Ukraine where the Aryan 'soldier-peasant' tilled the soil with a weapon at his side, ready to defend the farm from the 'Asian hordes.' As for the Ukrainians whom the Nazis pejoratively branded 'Negroes,' Hitler remarked that the Germans would supply them 'with scarves, glass beads and everything that colonial people like.'"
Also active both in Deutsch-Südwestafrika and in Nazi Germany were two members of a well-known family: Heinrich Ernst Göring
Heinrich Ernst Göring
Heinrich Ernst Göring was a German jurist and diplomat who served as colonial governor of German South-West Africa. He was the father of five children including Hermann Göring, the Nazi leader and commander of the Luftwaffe....
and Hermann Göring
Hermann Göring
Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"...
.
Franz Ritter von Epp also straddled both the Second Reich and the Third Reich. He served as a company
Company (military unit)
A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 80–225 soldiers and usually commanded by a Captain, Major or Commandant. Most companies are formed of three to five platoons although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure...
commander in the German colony Deutsch-Südwestafrika, where he took part in the bloody Herero and Namaqua Genocide
Herero and Namaqua Genocide
The Herero and Namaqua Genocide is considered to have been the first genocide of the 20th century. It took place between 1904 and 1907 in German South-West Africa , during the scramble for Africa...
. Von Epp also served as the NSDAP's head of its Military-Political Office from 1928 to 1945, and later as leader of the German Colonial Society, an organization devoted to regaining Germany's lost colonies.
Several other notable members of the NSDAP received their initial education repressing people in German colonies, including:
| Franz Ritter von Epp | Reichsstatthalter of Bavaria, member of GSWA schutztruppen |
| Heinrich Ernst Göring Heinrich Ernst Göring Heinrich Ernst Göring was a German jurist and diplomat who served as colonial governor of German South-West Africa. He was the father of five children including Hermann Göring, the Nazi leader and commander of the Luftwaffe.... Hermann Göring Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring, was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of World War I as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max"... |
Heinrich worked in German Southwest Africa, Hermann was a well known member of the NSDAP |
| Eduard von Liebert | member NSDAP, governor German South West Africa |
| Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck | joined NSDAP in 1928, German South West Africa German Kamerun and German East Africa, with General von Trotha |
| Friedrich von Lindequist | member NSDAP, governor German South West Africa |
| Karl Peters Karl Peters Karl Peters , was a German colonial ruler, explorer, politician and author, the prime mover behind the foundation of the German colony of East Africa... |
member NSDAP in 1933, founder of German East Africa, (praised by Kaiser Wilhelm II and Hitler) |
| Wilhelm Röemann | member NSDAP, in German South West Africa (under General von Trotha) |
| Paul Rohrbach | Settlement commissioner in GSWA Rohrbach tried to establish an independent Ukraine in 1918 Rohrbach was associated with the Reichsgau Reichsgau A Reichsgau was an administrative subdivision created in a number of the areas annexed to Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1945... Wartheland Reichsgau Wartheland Reichsgau Wartheland was a Nazi German Reichsgau formed from Polish territory annexed in 1939. It comprised the Greater Poland and adjacent areas, and only in part matched the area of the similarly named pre-Versailles Prussian province of Posen... during the Third Reich |
| Heinrich Schneem | member NSDAP, governor German East Africa, president Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft (DKG), president Deutsche weltwirtschaftliche gessellschaft |
| Theodore Seitz | governor of German Kamerun, governor German South West Africa, president Deutsche Kolonialgesellschaft (DKG) |
The bridge between the the Second Reich and the Third Reich was through Germany's African colonial empire! See German Ost (East)
German Ost (East)
This article deals with German colonization of parts of Eastern Europe during the late nineteenth through twentieth centuries. For an article on the medieval migration of Germans into eastern Europe, see Ostsiedlung....
.
Major personages and propaganda
The objective of the policy of German South West Africa Governor Theodor von Leutwein was not to destroy the indigenous populations (HereroHerero
The Herero are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group inhabiting parts of Southern Africa. The majority reside in Namibia, with the remainder found in Botswana and Angola. About 240,000 members are alive today.-General:...
, Nama
Nama
Nama may mean:* Nama band, a Greek music group* Nama , a genus of plants in the family Hydrophyllaceae* Holy Name in Indian religions* Nama , a hero in ? folklore who built an ark to save his family from a flood...
, Damara
Damara
Damara may refer to:* Damara , breed of sheep* Damara , Namibian people* Damaraland, a region in Namibia* Damara , landlords of ancient Kashmir* Damara, Central African Republic, town...
) in order to seize their land to encourage settlement of German farmers; nor was it to seize or kill the cattle. Leutwein's objective was not genocide, and he was wise enough to realize that the indigenous population could be used as a labor supply. However, such Flavian tactics left Leutwein open to attack at home, with a public who wanted the instant gratification of a decisive defeat of the indigenous peoples of German South West Africa. (This was the same problem Augustus Flavius had with the Roman public, who wanted him to quickly defeat Hannibal.) As a consequence, Leutwein was pushed aside by Kaiser Wilhelm II and replaced by Lothar von Trotha
Lothar von Trotha
Adrian Dietrich Lothar von Trotha was a German military commander widely condemned for his conduct of the Herero Wars in South-West Africa, especially for the events that led to the near-extermination of the Herero....
, already known for his brutality in China as well as German East Africa. The result was the genocide of the indigenous population, the economic ruin of German South West Africa, and the eventual loss of the German colonial empire.
As a consequence of this failed, brutal policy, Trotha was forced to leave German South West Africa and replaced by Friedrich von Lindequist, who completed the genocide with the use of extermination camps and concentration camps. In order for this policy to be acceptable at home, propaganda was employed. The claim was made that the 'barbaric' indigenous population wished to murder defenseless women and children. In fact, only four German women were killed, and one German child.
Extermination of the indigenous people of GSWA
Children were abused and exterminated; women and children were used as slave labor; women and children were used as 'comfort women' and sex slaves; and the entire object of gaining profit for the Second Reich was placed into doubt at home in Germany.One of the following images has been censored, though it appears in many books and is in the public domain; see Jurgen Zimmerer, Joachim Zeller and E. J. Neather, "Genocide in German South-West Africa: The Colonial War of 1904-1908 and Its Aftermath", Merlin Press (December 1, 2007), p. 137.
A summary of concentration camps in German South West Africa
In the table below, Extermination camps are highlighted in light red; Concentration campsInternment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...
are highlighted in blue, Collection or Work camps are unmarked.
| Name | Est. deaths Notes |
|
|---|---|---|
| Bondelslokation | ||
| Karibib | ||
| Keetmanshoop | ||
| Lüdertiz | ||
| Okahandja Okahandja Concentration Camp After the battle of Waterburg, in which the Schutztruppers of German South West Africa used machine guns and cannons to force the indigenous Herero into the Omaheke desert, then used Maxim machine guns to prevent the Herero from gaining access to water , the Herero who did not die in the desert... |
Four subcamps or kraals: #1: Young children; #2: Prisoners of War; #3: Sick and dying; #4: Police camp (mostly Damara) |
|
| Okomitombe | ||
| Omaruru | ||
| Omburo | ||
| Otjihaenena | ||
| Otjozongombe | ||
| Shark Island | 3,000 | (In Lüderitzbucht, 121.2% for Nama, 30% for Herero) |
| Swakopmund Swakopmund Concentration Camp After the battle of Waterburg, in which the Schutztruppers of German South West Africa used machine guns and cannons to force the indigenous Herero into the Omaheke desert, then used Maxim machine guns to prevent the Herero from gaining access to water , the Herero who did not die in the desert... |
74% | |
| Windhoek | 50.4% | There were two lager (camps) at Windhoek. |
One should bear in mind that the above table of concentration camps, extermination camps and collection or work camps did not exhaust all the other places where indigenous people were interned.
"There were numerous smaller and lesser concentration camps in the colony. Some pertained to private businesses such as the Woermann company and others to government related projects such as railway construction, which saw several thousands of Herero 'accommodated' in 'Railway Concentration Labour Camps'."
"Hereros working in Swakopmund had been rounded up and interned on two Woermann line ‘steamers’ anchored off the coastal town’s shores."
Firma Lenz used slave labor to build railway embankments.
The Arthur Koppel Company constructed the Otavi railroad.
Etappenkommando in charge of supplies of prisoners to companies, private persons, etc., as well as any other materials. Concentration camps implies poor sanitation and a population density that would imply disease.
Prisoners were used as slave laborers in mines and railways, for use by the military or settlers.
The Herero and Namaqua genocide
Herero and Namaqua Genocide
The Herero and Namaqua Genocide is considered to have been the first genocide of the 20th century. It took place between 1904 and 1907 in German South-West Africa , during the scramble for Africa...
has been recognised by the United Nations and by the German Federal Republic
German Federal Republic
"German Federal Republic" was one of the derogatory terms used by the communist German Democratic Republic to refer to the Federal Republic of Germany from the 1950s until 1968, when they started using the propaganda term "BRD"....
. At the 100th anniversary of the camp's foundation, German Minister for Economic Development and Cooperation Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul
Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul
Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul is a German politician and a member of the Social Democratic Party since 1965.-Career:...
commemorated the dead on-site and apologised for the camp on behalf of Germany.
See also
- German South West Africa
- Herero Wars
- Herero and Namaqua GenocideHerero and Namaqua GenocideThe Herero and Namaqua Genocide is considered to have been the first genocide of the 20th century. It took place between 1904 and 1907 in German South-West Africa , during the scramble for Africa...
- Okahandja Concentration CampOkahandja Concentration CampAfter the battle of Waterburg, in which the Schutztruppers of German South West Africa used machine guns and cannons to force the indigenous Herero into the Omaheke desert, then used Maxim machine guns to prevent the Herero from gaining access to water , the Herero who did not die in the desert...
- Research Materials: Max Planck Society ArchiveResearch Materials: Max Planck Society ArchiveAt the end of World War II, the Kaiser Wilhelm Society was renamed the Max Planck Society, and the institutes associated with the Kaiser Wilhelm Society were renamed "Max Planck" institutes. The records that were archived under the former Kaiser Wilhelm Society and its institutes were placed in the...
- Shark Island, German South West Africa
- Swakopmund Concentration CampSwakopmund Concentration CampAfter the battle of Waterburg, in which the Schutztruppers of German South West Africa used machine guns and cannons to force the indigenous Herero into the Omaheke desert, then used Maxim machine guns to prevent the Herero from gaining access to water , the Herero who did not die in the desert...