It was the first genocide of the twentieth century.
In January 1904, the Herero people of Southwest Africa (today’s Namibia), who had been under German rule for just twenty years and who were losing control of their lands and cattle to German settlers, rose up against the colonizers, killing about a hundred Germans. The German government responded by sending an expeditionary force under General Lothar von Trotha, a veteran of colonial wars, to reinforce the German garrison in the colony.
By August, Trotha was in a position to attack the lightly armed Hereros with artillery and machine guns, defeating them and driving them into the Kalahari Desert. In October, Trotha issued what became known as his “extermination order,” which included the following words:
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 and children. I shall drive them back to their people — otherwise I shall order shots to be fired at them.
In the same month, the smaller Nama ethnic group joined the uprising. Trotha issued a similar extermination order directed at them. It was not until early 1907 that the German colonial troops succeeded in brutally crushing the uprising with overwhelming military force.
Of some 80,000 Herero, it is estimated that 75–80 percent died: some were killed in combat, while others died of hunger and thirst after being driven into the desert. Over half of the 20,000 Nama were also killed.
How did the German Social Democratic Party (SPD), the fast-growing socialist party representing an ever larger proportion of Germany’s working class, react to these events? Was it captured by nationalism and pro-imperialist interests, or did it uphold principles of internationalism, anti-racism, and human rights?
The German Social Democrats had emerged from twelve years…
Auteur: Andrew Bonnell
