2. “I Believe That the Nation As Such Should be Annihilated“
General Trotha stated his intent to end the uprising by exterminating the Herero, and his methods were as dark as dark gets. As he put it: “I believe that the nation as such should be annihilated, or, if this was not possible by tactical measures, have to be expelled from the country“. In August, 1904, Trotha’s men defeated about 3000 Herero combatants. A guide employed by the Germans described what happened next:
“After the battle all men, women, and children who fell into German hands, wounded or otherwise, were mercilessly put to death. Then the Germans set off in pursuit of the rest, and all those found by the wayside and in the sandveld were shot down and bayoneted to death. The mass of the Herero men were unarmed and thus unable to offer resistance“.