1. The Twentieth Century’s First Genocide
The Germans pursued the survivors into the desert, and prevented them from accessing water by placing armed guards on water sources, or poisoning the wells. As a result, thousands died from thirst. Things went from dark to darker. On October 4th, Trotha wrote his superiors: “I believe that this [Herero] nation as a nation must be exterminated… I prefer for the nation to disappear entirely rather than allow them to infect our troops with their diseases“.
As to the Nama, the German settlers called for their extermination. Those who did not flee were sent to concentration camps, with one-third of the captives dying en route before reaching the camps. Once in the camps, many more died of epidemics and mistreatment. The captives were subjected to forced labor, beaten, whipped, and tortured, while many of the women were raped or made into concubines. In total, about 65,000 Herero, 80% of their total population, perished in the genocide. 10,000 Nama, 50% of that people, were also killed.
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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading
Alliance for Human Research Protection – Operation Paperclip Nazi Rogues
All That is Interesting – Why Isn’t Belgium’s King Leopold II As Reviled As Hitler or Stalin?
American Historical Association – The Conquest of Mexico
Anstey, Roger – The Atlantic Slave Trade and British Abolition, 1760 – 1810 (1975)
BBC – How Churchill Starved India
Black Past – The Zong Massacre
Daily Mail, September 8th, 2017 – The Nazi Monster Who Was Allowed to Get Away
Encyclopedia Britannica – Great Famine
Encyclopedia Britannica – Josef Mengele
Encyclopedia Britannica – Massacre of Amritsar
Guardian, The, December 9th, 2001 – ‘Spin’ on Boer Atrocities
History Place – Irish Potato Famine
PBS – Africans in America: Living Africans Thrown Overboard
Ranker – The Most Devastating Atrocities Committed by Every European Colonial Empire
Time Magazine, November 29th, 2010 – The Ugly Briton
Understanding Slavery Initiative – The Zong Case Study
Wikipedia – Atrocities in the Congo Free State