history: the first genocide of the 20th century was the attempted
annihilation of the Herero by the Germans in South-West Africa
(present-day Namibia) from 1904 to 1907.
The language, methods, and scale of the Herero genocide remain shocking
even in the aftermath of the horrors of the Holocaust. In their quest
to occupy and exploit the territory of the pastoralist Herero, the
German colonizers recruited a mercenary army led by Lt. Gen. Lothar von
Trotha. The Vernichtungsbefehl (“Destruction Order”) he issued was
terrifyingly clear: “Within the German borders, every Herero, whether
armed or unarmed, with or without cattle, shall be shot.”
The
genocide culminated in the infamous “march into death” of Herero who
were forced into the Omaheke Desert. The Germans sealed the perimeter
with guard towers, poisoned water sources, and then bayoneted to death
Herero who attempted to escape dehydration. An official history of the
German General Staff compiled after the genocide rightly concluded: “The
arid Omaheke was to complete what the German army had begun: the
annihilation of the Herero people.” Those who survived the desert were
sent to concentration camps where captured Herero soldiers, along with
women and children, were forced to work. Women boiled and scraped the
skin off the heads of Herero who had been killed. Those skulls were then
shipped off to Germany for museum displays and eugenics research.
http://africasacountry.com/…/the-first-genocide-of-the-20t…/
One of 20 skulls of Ovaherero and Nama people returned to Namibia at a ceremony in Berlin in 2011 (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
