Okahandja Concentration Camp was a concentration camp in German South-West Africa.
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 (or poisoned the water holes), the Herero who did not die in the desert were collected and placed into concentration camps such as Okahandja. This included men, women and children. Unfortunately, the collection process was not so peaceful, as the Herero were typically shot.
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The objective of the policy of German South West Africa Governor Theodor von Leutwein was not to destroy the indigenous populations (Herero, 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. [1][2]
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.
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.
Concentration camps in German South-West Africa In the table below, Extermination camps are highlighted in light red; Concentration camps are highlighted in blue, Collection or Work camps are unmarked.
| Name[3][4] | Est. deaths[5] | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bondelslokation | ||
| Karibib | ||
| Keetmanshoop | ||
| Lüdertiz | ||
| Okahandja | Four subcamps or kraals: [6] #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 | 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'." [7]
"Hereros working in Swakopmund had been rounded up and interned on two Woermann line ‘steamers’ anchored off the coastal town’s shores."[8]
Firma Lenz used slave labor to build railway embankments.[9]
The Arthur Koppel Company constructed the Otavi railroad.[10]
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.[11]
Prisoners were used as slave laborers in mines and railways, for use by the military or settlers.[12][13][14][15][16] [17]
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.[18][19]
Horst Drechsler, "Let Us Die Fighting: The Struggle of the Herero and Nama against German Imperialism (1884-1915)", Akademie-Verlag Berlin, 1986 (3rd Ed.)
This was a pioneering work, and remains a major source of information about German South West Africa. Unfortunately, the book does not provide any photographs.
Casper W. Erichsen, "The angel of death has descended violently among them: Concentration camps and prisoners-of-war in Namibia, 1904-08", University of Leiden African Studies Centre, Leiden, 2005.
This book should be considered a major source of information on German South West Africa. It contains many photographs and several rare maps, including a great deal of information about the Shark Island Extermination Camp and the other extermination camps and collection centers.
Jan-Bart Gewald, "Herero Heroes: A Socio-Political History of the Herero of Namibia 1890-1923", James Currey, Oxford, 1999.
This book has a great many photographs and maps.
Jeremy Sarkin, "Germany's Genocide of the Herero: Kaiser Wilhelm II, His General, His Settlers, His Soldiers", James Currey, UCT Press, 2011.
This book contains several photographs and maps. The book focuses on the extermination order issued by Kaiser Wilhelm II to Lothar von Trotha, as well as several other extermination orders issued by Kaiser Wilhelm II. It also contains extermination orders issued by Lothar von Trotha,[20] and the misleading proclamation made by Trotha's successor, Governor Friedrich von Lindequist, asking the Herero and Nama to turn themselves in to facilities that were actually concentration camps, including Omburo and Otjihaemena.
"Report on the natives of South-West Africa and their treatment by Germany." Administrator's Office, Windhuk [sic], London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1918. (Blue Book)
Originally available "At any bookstore or through H. M. Stationery Office [His Majesty's Stationery Office]", until 1926, when it was removed from the public and destroyed. There are many revisionists of history who claim that this book is biased. However:
"A number of eyewitness accounts do exist and some victim accounts are found in the Blue Book, which recorded accounts of the atrocities committed during the Herero war.Since the British produced the Blue Book during World War I reservations about its objectivity remain. However, the sentiments contained in the 1918 Report were already present in a British report of 1909, which stated:
"The great aim of German policy in German South West Africa, as regards the native, is to reduce him to a state of serfdom, and, where he resists, to destroy him altogether. The native, to the German, is a baboon and nothing more. The war against the Hereros, conducted by General Von Trotha, was one of extermination; hundreds -- men, women and children -- were driven into desert country, where death from thirst was their end; whose [sic] left over are now in great locations near Windhuk [sic] where they eke out a miserable existence; labour is forced upon them and naturally is unwillingly performed.[21]
In August 1912 [pre-dates World War I], another British foreign office official commented:
"In view of the cruelty, treachery [and] commercialism by which the German colonial authorities have gradually reduced their natives to the status of cattle (without so much of a flutter being caused among English peace loving philanthropists) the [Portuguese] S. Thome agitation in its later phases against a weak [and] silly nation without resources is the more sickening. These Herreros were butchered by thousands during the war & have been ruthlessly flogged into subservience since."[22]
Brigitte Lau, "History and Historiography: 4 essays in reprint", Discourse/MSORP, Windhoek, May, 1995
Both Erichsen and Sarkin refer to Brigitte Lau as a denialist. Nevertheless, in essay III, between pages 50 and 51 of her work, nine photographs with captions including "prisoner of war camps, in Windhoek and Luderitz", are published. Lau was a research officer at the National Archives of Namibia, and in 1991 was appointed Head of the National Archives of Namibia.
The Herero people will have to leave the country. Otherwise I shall force them to do so by means of guns. Within the German boundaries, every Herero, whether found armed or unarmed, with or without cattle, will be shot. I shall not accept any more women or children. I shall drive them back to their people otherwise I shall order them to be shot.
Signed: the Great General of the Mighty Kaiser, von Trotha
"Some scholars, such as Brigitte Lau, have denied the existence of the order itself. In 1989, she noted that no original copy of the order in German existed. However, Berat argues correctly that subsequent references to the order in German colonial documents confirms the veracity of it. Besides, the original order has been located and now resides in the Botswana National Archives. [...] Much of the Blue Book, as Wellington points out, consists of translations of German sources. The veracity of these records has not been questioned, neither have the translations been critised as inaccurate." pp. 110, 111, 30-31, Sarkin.