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The Hola Massacre is an event that took place during the Mau Mau Uprising against British colonial rule at a colonial detention camp in Hola, Kenya.[1]
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Hola camp was established to house detainees classified as “hard-core.” By January 1959 the camp had a population of 506 detainees of whom 127 were held in a secluded “closed camp.” This more remote camp was reserved for the uncooperative of the detainees. They often refused, even when threats of force were made, to join in the colonial "rehabilitation process" or perform manual labor or obey colonial orders. The camp commandant outlined a plan that would force 88 of the detainees to bend to work. On March 3, 1959, the camp commandant put this plan into action - as a result of which 11 of the detainees were clubbed to death by guards.[2] All the 77 surviving detainees sustained serious permanent injuries.[3]
The first report to surface about this incident was in the East African Standard. The front-page article reported that ten died at the Hola detention camp. The paper quoted the "official statement" from the colonial authorities: “The men were in a group of about 100 who were working on digging furrows. The deaths occurred after they had drunk water from a water cart which was used by all members of the working party and the guards.”[4]
More information about the incident emerged in the weeks that followed the initial reports. An investigation into the deaths ensued and it was discovered that the 11 detainees did not die of drinking foul water, but as a result of violence. The medical examiner said, “They had died from either lung congestion or shock and hemorrhage following multiple bruises and other injuries.” The coroner reported, “The injuries of a number of Mau Maus apparently were consistent with their allegations that uncooperative prisoners had been beaten by guards, apparently with the consent of the commandant."[5] A report in the June 1959 edition of Time magazine entitled "The Hola Scandal" described the events. The report stated that, on March 3, 1959, 85 prisoners were marched outside and ordered to work but "dozens of the prisoners fell to the ground, refusing to work" and were beaten by the guards. When the assault had concluded, according to the magazine, 11 prisoners lay dying and another 23 needed hospital treatment.[6]
The Colonial government in Britain attempted to change the name of the location from Hola to Galole. Some have made the claim that this was an attempt by the colonial authorities in Kenya to confuse people in hope that they would forget the incident that occurred there.[7]
Some of the early accounts do not even mention this incident, partly because many of the early accounts are either British government- or colonial-supported publications or secondary texts. Most of the secondary texts published during first decade or so after the Emergency were sympathetic to the British/Colonist/Loyalist point of view.[8]
The negative publicity put pressure on the British parliament to take action in order to salvage Britain's deteriorating image. Colonial detention camps were closed throughout Kenya, and the prisoners were freed soon after.[9] Attempts were then made to find a solution to maintaining British interests in Africa without the use of force, indirectly leading to a hastening of independence across British-colonised Africa.[10]