DFrom 1884 to 1915, Germany administered Namibia. After a German trader discovered a large diamond mine in the west of the country. Conflicts soon broke out between the local population (Heros) and the settlers who continued to commit various abuses: theft of land, livestock, women and the permanent lynching of male Heroes, abuses which quickly tired the scorned people. . At the time the fear of the German settlers was to suffer a general revolt of the local population. In 1904 the Heroes led an offensive against settlers in the town of Okahandjo and killed over 200 civilians. The pretext for extermination of the population seemed accommodating.
Shortly after the Herero offensive, General Von Trotha, an officer with a reputation for cruelty in China and East Africa, was transferred to Namibia and sent a registered letter to the German settlers living there: "The Herero are no longer German subjects. If they do not agree to leave of their own free will, they will be forced to leave by force of arms. They must leave the country, otherwise I will dislodge them with my "groot Rohr" (big cannon)... Any Herero seen within the Namibian borders with or without a weapon will be executed. Women and children will be taken back to work camps. No male prisoners will be taken. They will be shot. Decision made for the Herero people. I annihilate the insurgent tribes in floods of blood and money. This is the only seed to make something new grow that is stable."
In August 1904, General Von Trotha had the Heroes surrounded so that the only possible escape route was to the East, to the Kalahari Desert in an environment that did not allow them to survive and to ensure the Success of his plan, Von Trotha established a military cordon along the desert and poisoned the water points. Thousands of civilians fell victim to this cruel punishment. For three years, systematic repression was exercised against the Heroes: summary executions, hangings, children passed through the bayonet, bodies of the tortured left as an example. At the end of the massacre, the death toll was catastrophic: from 86 Heroes, there were only 000 survivors left in 15. Some of the survivors managed to flee to the neighboring colonies, the last resistance fighters were locked up in labor camps forced to work in mines in deplorable conditions (lack of food, care) deprived of their land. The women will even serve as sex slaves to many German officers.
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