Random Things Of Decades Before Holocaust, Germany Practiced Genocide On Two African Nations (12 items)

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  (#5) The Germans Were Responding To A Minor Uprising Against Colonial Rule

  The Germans claimed their extermination order was a reasonable response to the Herero uprising in 1904. A surprise Herero attack in January of 1904 killed just over 100 German farmers. The Herero chief, Samuel Maherero, ordered his followers to spare missionaries, women, and children. The revolt targeted German farmers who had seized Herero land as well as the Waterberg military station, where a number of German soldiers were killed.

  Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, who would lead the Germans into World War I a decade later, was enraged at the Herero revolt. He ordered his troops to suppress the rebellion. A few months later, General Lothar von Trotha arrived with 14,000 soldiers.
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  (#6) German Propaganda Justified Their Actions By Claiming White Women Were In Danger

  The Germans justified their genocidal tactics by claiming that the Africans were targeting helpless white women. Just as thousands of lynchings were carried out in America because white men claimed the misdeeds were necessary to protect white women, German propaganda declared that white women were in danger.

  These claims were exaggerated. The revolt against the German occupation only saw a loss of athree white women—the Herero fighters intentionally spared women and children, even offering them protection. Images of white women threatened by violent Africans were merely propaganda to convince Germans that their actions were justified.
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  (#12) This Proves That The Holocaust Was Not An Isolated Incident

  The Germans believed that their harsh tactics were justified in order to maintain colonial control over Namibia. But their actions devastated the Herero and Namaqua societies. As many as 80,000 Herero were lost, and 10,000 Namaqua also lost their lives, which nearly annihilated both groups. As much as 80% of the entire Herero population was wiped out.

  The loss of the Herero and Namaqua shares a number of characteristics with the Holocaust, from the attempt to exterminate an entire people to the concentration camps featuring forced labor, starvation, and medical experiments. The Holocaust was not an isolated incident––the Germans had practiced their tactics during the time of the Herero and Namaqua.
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  (#11) The Genocide Wasn't The First Clash Between Germans And Namibians

  Germans declared Southwest Africa a colonial territory in 1884. Their first move was to seize land from the local inhabitants. The Herero were a major target because they were more powerful than the Germans. Theodor Leutwein, the colonial governor, said, "the lands must obviously be transferred from the hands of the natives to those of the Whites. This is the goal of the colonization of the territory. Whites must occupy the lands. Therefore, the natives must leave and become servants or will have to go away."

  In 1897, a cattle plague struck the area, culling up to 90% of the Herero herds. With the Herero weakened, the Germans enforced their colonial agenda.
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  (#4) Nearly All The Prisoners At The Concentration Camp Passed 

  The Germans set up a concentration camp for the Herero and Namaqua people. It was located on Shark Island, a rocky strip in the Atlantic. For two years, imprisoned people were forced to labor under bleak conditions, and over 70% of prisoners died. One missionary who entered the camp said, "A woman who was so weak from illness that she could not stand crawled to some of the other prisoners to beg for water. The overseer fired five shots at her. Two shots hit her: one in the thigh, the other smashing her forearm."

  As many as 3,000 Herero skulls were shipped to Berlin so that German scientists could examine them for proof that Africans were inferior.
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  (#1) Decades Before The Holocaust, Germans Forced Africans Into Concentration Camps

  In the 1880s, European nations descended on Africa in a scramble to carve up the continent into colonial possessions. The Race for Africa came at a high cost, especially in areas that resisted European rule. In German Southwest Africa, today known as Namibia, the Germans vowed to hold their territory by any means necessary, including exterminating entire nations of people.

  After a revolt led by the Herero people, the German colonizers wiped out 80% of the Herero population, forcing thousands into concentration camps. General Von Trotha, who was sent to crush the rebellion, said, "Within the German borders every Herero, whether 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 shots to be fired at them."

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