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Surviving Herero after the escape through the arid desert of Omaheke.

Plaquette at the Reiterdenkmal in Windhoek commemorating the Germans killed in the uprising

The Herero and Namaqua Wars occurred in German South-West Africa (modern day Namibia) in 1904-1907, during the scramble for Africa. The Hereros revolted against German rule in the colony, and started the uprising by killing German civilians. The colonial army of only 766 men was unable to resist the uprising, and the government in Berlin sent a marine expedition corps of 15,000 men under Lieutenant General Lothar von Trotha to re-establish order in the colony and suppress the uprising. During the wars at least 24,000 Hereos, 10,000 Namas and between 1,365 and 1,441 white civilians and German soldiers lost their lives.

1 Before the war
2 The war
3 Late developments
4 Fictional representations
5 See also
6 References
7 Bibliography and documentaries
8 External links

[edit] Before the war

Herero chained during the 1904 rebellion.

The Herero tribe were originally a tribe of graziers living in the region of modern Namibia. Formerly, Namibia was called German South West Africa and the area occupied by the Herero was known as Damaraland.

During the Scramble for Africa, the British made it clear that they were not interested in the territory so in August 1884 it was declared a German Protectorate; at that time the only overseas territory deemed suitable for white settlement that had been acquired by Germany. From the outset there was resistance by the Khoikhoi to the German rule although a sort of peace was worked out in 1894. In that year von Leutwein became Governor of the territory and it entered a period of rapid development.

White settlers were encouraged and settled on land appropriated from the natives which caused a great deal of discontent. German colonial rule in the area was far from egalitarian, the natives including the Herero were demanded to work on white farms, their lands were frequently seized and given to colonists, and resources, particularly diamond mines, were exploited by the Germans.

In 1903 some of the Khoi and Herero Tribes rose in revolt and about 60 German settlers were killed. Troops were sent from Germany to re-establish order but only succeeded in dispersing the rebels led by Chief Samuel Maharero.

In 1904 the Hereros revolted, led by Chief Samuel Maharero, and massacred about 120 German civilians, destroying their farms. General Lothar von Trotha was dispatched in October 1904 with a force of 14,000 soldiers 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 people. The Herero are no longer German subjects. . . . The Herero nation must...leave the country. If they do not leave, I will force them out with the Groot Rohr (cannon). Every Herero, armed or unarmed...will be shot dead within the German borders. I will no longer accept women and children, but will force them back to their people or shoot at them.

General Lothar von Trotha's orders to kill every male Herero and drive the women and children into the desert were lifted in 1904 by the metropole, but the massacres had already began. When the order was lifted at the end of 1904, prisoners were herded into camps and given as forced labourers to German businesses, where many died of overwork and malnutrition.

[edit] The war

German forces met the 3000-5000 Herero combatants at the battle of 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.

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. Maherero and 1000 men crossed the Kalahari into Bechuanaland.

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.

Survivors, mostly women and children, were eventually put in labor camps, such as that at Shark Island, similar to those used in British South Africa during both Boer Wars. German authorities attributed to each Herero a number and meticulously recorded every death of a Herero, whether in camps or due to forced labor, and including, unusually enough, the name of each dead person. German enterprises were able to rent Herero people for manpower, and death of workers was permitted, and reported to the German authorities.

It took until 1908 to fully re-establish German authority over the territory by which time it has been claimed 100,000 Africans had lost their lives^{[citation needed]}. At the height the campaign some 19,000 German Troops were involved. According to the 1985 UN Whitaker Report, some 65,000 Herero (80 percent of the total Herero population), and 10,000 Namaqua (50 percent of the total Namaqua population) were killed between 1904 and 1907. Others estimates give a total of 100,000 killed.

At about the same time diamonds were discovered in the territory and this did much to boost its prosperity. However it was short-lived. The country was annexed by South Africa in 1915.

German troops in combat with the Herero in a painting by Richard Knötel.

[edit] Late developments

Germany has in recent years given its former colony extensive development aid.

In 1998, German President Roman Herzog visited Namibia and met Herero leaders. Chief Munjuku Nguvauva demanded a public apology and compensation. Herzog expressed regret about past suffering on both sides, but made it clear he had nothing to apologize for. He also pointed out that reparations were out of the question. The President of Namibia has made clear that he does not support the campaign against Germany, and that the Nation of Namibia is grateful for German help and that Germany does not owe Namibia anything.

On the 100th anniversary on August 16, 2004, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Germany's left-wing development aid minister officially apologized for the first time and expressed grief about the results of the urpising started by the Hereros. She reiterated that compensations were out of the question.

[edit] Fictional representations

One chapter of Thomas Pynchon's novel V. (1963) is about the Herero genocide. A group of characters of Herero descent are also present in his Gravity's Rainbow (1974), which hints more than once at the Herero Massacre.