62-1905

1905	The "geneticist" Eugen Fischer issues warnings about the "dangers of race-mixing" between German colonists and African women. Such thinking underpins the inhuman treatment of Africans in a foretaste of things to come for Jews, Blacks, Gypsies and other minority groups in Germany during the 1930s and 1940s. Franz Seiner surveys the Caprivi Strip and composes a detailed map of the area. Due to the continued attacks of the Tswana King, Sekgoma Lethsolathebe, the British High Commissioner establishes the southern border of the western Caprivi Strip provisionally at Mohembo at the Okavango River (where the border still lies to the present day). The attacks of the Tswana against the Mbukushu continue, however, until 1930. The construction of the Khan Copper Mine 60 km east of Swakopmund begins. The mine is opened in 1906. An 11 km long connection railway line is built from the Otavi Railway line to the mine. The geologist Paul Ramdohr estimates the copper deposits at 157 000 tonnes. The Baster Captain Hermanus van Wyk of Rehoboth dies. The position of Baster Captain is abolished by the German authorities and a Basterrat (Council of Basters) is appointed instead.
Beginning January	German troops attack a peaceful group of Ovambo workers at Etaneno, south of Outjo. This results in a near complete cessation of Ovambo worker migration to the south of the territory. Finnish missionary Martti Rautanen persuades Ovambo King Kambonde kaMpingana of the Ondonga area not to support King Nehale of the Ondonga area, who under Ovaherero influence is ready to rise against the Germans again.
01.01.	The battle of Stamprietfontein is fought between Hendrik Witbooi and the Germans under Major Meister.
02.-04.01.	The battle of Groß Nabas is fought between Hendrik Witbooi and the Germans, with heavy losses on both sides (32% on the German side). Together with the Nama, an Ovaherero unit fights under the command of Frederick Maharero, son of Samuel Maharero. Memorial for the Gross Nabas Battle between Germans and Witbooi Nama: 02.-04.01.1905: Auob Valley: Hardap Region: April 2003 Copyright of Photos: Dr. Klaus Dierks German War Cemetery at Gochas: Reflecting the many Battles and Skirmishes between Germans and Nama (mainly Witbooi Nama under Hendrik Witbooi (until 1905) and Fransman Nama (!Khara-khoen) under Simon Koper (until 1908)): Hardap Region: April 2003 Copyright of Photos: Dr. Klaus Dierks German War Cemetery at Gochas: Reflecting the Gross Nabas Battle between Germans and Witbooi Nama: 02.-04.01.1905: Hardap Region: April 2003 Copyright of Photos: Dr. Klaus Dierks
03.01.	The battle of Haruchas is fought at the Auob River between the Nama and the Germans under Lieutenant Ritter. German War Cemetery at Gochas: Reflecting the Skirmish of Haruchas between Germans and Witbooi Nama: 03.01.1905: Hardap Region: April 2003 Copyright of Photos: Dr. Klaus Dierks The German War Memorial at Haruchas: Reflecting the Skirmish of Haruchas: 03.01.1905 Copyright of Photos: Dr. Klaus Dierks
05.01.	A skirmish with losses for the Germans (four dead and 14 wounded) takes place at Gochas. The two German detachments are commanded by Lieutenant Stuhlmann and Lieutenant Graf Stosch.
07.01.	The battle of Swartfontein is fought between Simon Koper and Major von Lengerke.
11.01.	German troops imprison a total of 8 889 Ovaherero men, women and children. The Rhenish Missionary Society imprisons approximately 12 500 more Ovaherero. Including the Ovaherero who escaped to British Bechuanaland, Walvis Bay and other areas, it can be deduced that of the pre-war population of about 80 000 Ovaherero, only about 24 000 survive. Many more are still to die in the concentration camps in the years to come. One concentration camp is situated in Windhoek, just north of the Alte Feste, with thousands of prisoners, where many executions take place (at the location of the present Christuskirche (Christ Church) and the monument "Rider of South West").
16.01.	The post office at Waldau is re-opened.
17.01.	Heinrich Vedder founds the Rhenish Mission in German South West Africa.
19.01.	The construction of a telegraph line from Windhoek to Keetmanshoop via Rehoboth, Tsumis and Gibeon (492 km) commences under the command of Oskar Hoffmann (completed on 26.05.1906). This system is later expanded by adding a telegraph line to the railway telegraph from Keetmanshoop to Lüderitz with a branch line from Brackwasser to Bethany.
23.01.	The Mixed Marriages Act is passed. Germans with "black" spouses lose their citizenship rights. In February 1907 this is also supported by the Roman-Catholic Church: "Marriages between whites and blacks are not blessed by the church". With the exception of Ovamboland, the Caprivi Strip and Rehoboth, all "tribal" land is confiscated.
24.01.	Hendrik Witbooi is wounded in action at Schürfpenz, between Stamprietfontein and Lidfontein.
28.01.	A skirmish between Simon Koper and the Germans takes place at Urikuribis (!Uri!Khorobes) in the Auob Valley, north of Gochas. German War Cemetery at Gochas: Reflecting the Skirmish of Urikuribis: 28.01.1905 Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks
05.02.	The battle of Nunub is fought between the Nama and the Germans under Captain Morath.
27.02.	A post office is opened at Epukiro.
March	Lieutenant Gräff attacks a strong group of Ovaherero in Kaurama in the Kaukauveld in the Karakuwisa area with losses on both sides. The Ovaherero are forced to give way in the direction of the Gautscha Pan. The Germans wait for reinforcements from Grootfontein but in the mean time the Ovaherero escape in an easterly direction.
02.03.	The Roman-Catholic priest Franz Jäger is killed near Aminuis. The mission station at Epukiro. is destroyed.
04.03.	A skirmish takes place between the Witbooi Nama and a small German unit at Klein Nabis. All Germans are killed. German War Cemetery at Gochas: Reflecting the Skirmish of Klein Nabis: 04.03.1905 Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks
10.03.	Captain Georg Kirchner is defeated by Jakob Marengo in the battle of Aob. The Great Karas Mountains from Aob (Gaitsanes) Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks German War Memorial: Reflecting the Battle of Aob between Jakob Marengo and Captain Kirchner: 10.03.1905 Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks Abraham Morris is forced by Captain von Koppy to abandon the Garup waterhole.
11.03.	The battle of Narudas ("Robber Henrick’s Place") is fought against three German sections under Major Altwig Wilhelm Adolf Ernst von Kamptz (together with the commander of the south front, Colonel Berthold von Deimling and Captain Friedrich von Erckert)(coming from the west), Major von Lengerke (sealing off the east), Captain von Koppy (coming from the south). Marengo and Abraham Morris are defeated and escape in the direction of 5Khauxa!nas. Marengo is wounded during the battle. Robber Henrick's Place (Narudas) or Klip Fontein south-west of \|\|Khauxa!nas, possibly Marengo's Camp during February/March 1905 Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks Narudas Ruins: View to the East: This Part was used by Abraham Morris during the March 1905 Battle of Narudas Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks Jakob Marengo, 1906 Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks The War Cemetery at Narudas: Depicting various Battles and Skirmishes between the Germans and Jakob Marengo during 1905 Copyright of Photos: Dr. Klaus Dierks Extract of Marengo's Diary - Note the Heading and Date at the Top
21.03.	After the battle of Narudas a three kilometre column of wagons with captured material heads for Keetmanshoop. In spite of Marengo’s injury, a battle is fought between him and the Germans at Uchanaris, 60 km south east of Keetmanshoop. The Germans suffer more casualties than they had at Narudas. The Nama manage to recover some of their material losses suffered at Narudas.
25.03.	Battles are fought at Heusis in the Khomas Hochland between Germans and Ovaherero under the command of Chief Andreas, and at Aminuis between Germans and Nama under Hendrik Witbooi.
April	Peace negotiations between Germans and Marengo (Father Johann Malinowski as mediator) are unsuccessful. The battle of Huams between Cornelius Frederiks and the Germans under Lieutenant von Bülow ends with heavy losses for the Germans.
02.04.	Colonel von Deimling temporarily leaves the colony.
07.04.	Germans under Captain Adolf Manger attack the united Nama forces under Hendrik Witbooi and Simon Koper at Nanibkobis, near the Koaeib River (present-day Olifant’s River). Witbooi Nama Headman Salomon Saal dies of thirst after the battle. Jakob Marengo attacks a German military post under the command of Captain d’Arrest at Narudas. The Germans suffer losses.
22.04.	A Proclamation by von Trotha to the Nama, given at Berseba, with the order to surrender makes no impression on them. The Proclamation reads as follows: "The mighty and powerful German Emperor will grant mercy to the Hottentot people and will spare the lives of those who voluntarily surrender. Only those who at the beginning of the uprising murdered whites or who ordered others to do so will forfeit their lives in accordance with the law. I announce this to you and further say that those few who do not submit will suffer the same fate as the Hereros, who in their blindness believed that they could carry on successful war with the mighty German Emperor and the great German people. I ask you where are all the Hereros to day, where are their chiefs? Samuel Maharero, who once called thousands of head of cattle his own, is now harried like a wild beast and driven over the border into English territory. He has become as poor as the poorest field Herero and possesses nothing. It is the same with the other chiefs, the majority of whom have lost their lives, and the Herero people too have been annihilated - part of them dying of hunger and thirst on the desert, part killed by German soldiers, part murdered by the Owambos. The Hottentots will suffer the same fate if they do not surrender and give up their weapons. You should come with a white piece of cloth on a stick together with your whole village and nothing will happen to you. You will get work and receive food until the war ends at which time the Great German Kaiser will regulate anew the conditions in this territory. He who believes that mercy will not be extended to him should leave the land for as long as he lives on German soil he will be shot - this policy will go on until all such Hottentots have been killed. For the following men, living or dead, I set the following price: Hendrik Witbooi - 5 000 Marks; Stürmann, the "Witbooi prophet" (also called Shepperd Stuurman) - 3 000; Cornelius - 3 000; for the other guilty leaders - 1 000 each". Von Trotha's proclamation has the unintended result that owing to misinterpretation Johannes Christian who had been taken prisoner earlier and who is held captive at Warmbad, is released together with his soldiers and immediately again joins the Nama war. German Postcard of the Execution of Nama Soldiers at Gibeon, around 1905: Namibian Children and Women acting as Spectators Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks
25.04.	The wooden jetty at Swakopmund becomes operational. The jetty is later extended by 50 m and widened from 9 m to 14 m (1907). However, the wooden pillars, which are soon attacked by wood boring mussels (Teredo navalis), require maintenance and replacements on an ongoing basis. Steamers are soon no longer able to moor at the jetty and have to be unloaded with the help of lighters.
26./27.04.	United forces under Jakob Marengo and Cornelius Frederiks attack Germans under Von Kamptz at Ganams, with heavy losses for the Germans.
May	Various battles and skirmishes are fought around \|\|Khauxa!nas between the Germans and Marengo. Von Trotha transfers official business to Acting Governor Oskar Hintrager. The Germans still have 14 500 active soldiers.
02.05.	The OMEG railway line reaches the Onguati station (177 km).
08.05.	The battle of Ganachab is fought between Cornelius Frederiks and the Germans under Von Koppy. Frederiks has to flee in the direction of Berseba.
13.05.	Major von Estorff attacks the united Nama forces under Hendrik Witbooi and Simon Koper at Mukorob.
17.05.	The battle of Auob is fought between Von Estorff and the Witbooi and Fransman Nama. A skirmish takes place at Kowes. Lieutenant Häring and seven German soldiers are killed. German War Cemetery at Gochas: Reflecting the Skirmish of Kowes: 17.05.1905 Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks
19.05.	Jakob Marengo suffers losses in the skirmish of Leukop near the British border against the Germans under the command of Captain Franz Siebert. Some Nama soldiers escape into British territory, return, however, in the next couple of days.
23.05.	The 14 km Onguati-to-Karibib connecting line to the state railway line is completed.
26.05.	The battle of Gaos is fought at the Nabas River between Cornelius Frederiks and Von Koppy.
30.05.	The King of Italy is the arbitrator in a border dispute between Angola and Northern Rhodesia between the Zambezi and the Kwando (also Mashi) Rivers.
14.06.	The missionary Wilhelm Eich in a report to Heinrich Vedder mentions the death of 59 men, 59 women and 73 children in the Lüderitz (Shark Island) concentration camp. Poised on the vast South Atlantic, the island is barren and wind-swept. Placed on the far, most exposed tip, facing the open ocean, the concentration camp is surrounded by barbed wire and is guarded around the clock by German troops. The Shark Island camp has no buildings, only standard issue military tents and improvised shelters made from blankets and what little building materials is made available to the prisoners. At the same time, the learned and respected Ovaherero teacher, Samuel Kariko, is sent with his family "to do God’s work among the prisoners" on Shark Island. In 1918, after the British had taken over the colony in World War One, Kariko is interviewed for the somewhat controversial "Blue Book" ("South Africa, Union of: Report on the Natives of South-West Africa and their Treatment by Germany: Presented to both Houses of Parliament by Command of His Majesty"), giving a chilling description of the Shark Island concentration camp: "I was sent down with others to an island far in the south, at Luderitz. There on that island were thousands of Herero and Hottentot prisoners. We had to live there. Men, women and children were all huddled together. ... . We had no proper clothing, no blankets, and the night air on the sea was bitter cold. The wet sea fog drenched us and made our teeth chatter. The people died there like flies that had been poisoned. The great majority died there. The little children and the old people died first, and then the women and the weaker men. No day passed without many deaths." Shark Island: Only the Memories of the German Colonial Past are pictured in some Memorial Plaquettes on the Island: There is no Memorial for the more than One Thousand Namibians - Men, Women and Children - who perished at the Hands of the German Authority at the Shark Island Concentration Camp: 1905-1907 (August 2002) Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks Shark Island: Images of Prisoners and German Soldiers at the Prison Camp: 1905 Copyright of Photos: Namibia National Archives
15.-17.06.	A battle is fought at Narus at the upper reaches of the Kareb River south of \|\|Khauxa!nas between the Germans and Jakob Marengo with Jan Hendrik of the \|\|Hawoben as his ally, with heavy casualties for the Germans. Renewed peace negotiations between the Germans and Jakob Marengo and Cornelius Frederiks in \|\|Khauxa!nas fail again because the Germans attack the Nama during the armistice. Lieutenant Thilo von Trotha is killed. "House of Jakob Marengo" at \|\|Khauxa!nas: Possible Site of the 1905 Peace Negotiations Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks Marengo's House: Oral Evidence has it that the Slab to the left was the Table of the 1905 Peace Negotiations Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks \|\|Khauxa!nas: Rectangular Building: Marengo's House Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks Warmfontein: Grave of the Mother of Johannes Louw, Advisor to Jakob Marengo: Karas Region: April 2003 Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks Warmfontein: Grave of Johannes Louw, Advisor to Jakob Marengo: Interesting is that the Grave has been "vandalised": Karas Region: April 2003 Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks Warmfontein: Next to the Grave of Johannes Louw, Advisor to Jakob Marengo are some unnamed Nama Graves, probably one could belong to Johannes Louw's Nama Wife Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks
02.07.	The Commissioner of British Bechuanaland, Hamilton Goold-Adams, negotiates with Captain Füsslein to exchange the eastern Caprivi Strip between the Kwando and Zambezi Rivers for a similar piece of land in north-western Ngamiland.
03.07.	Jakob Marengo attacks the Germans at Wasserfall.
06.07.	Construction of a third port jetty (167 m long, 8 m wide) commences in Lüderitz. This construction is necessitated by the increased war efforts of the Nama.
August	The German newspapers Vorwärts and Leipziger Volkszeitung denounce the cruelties of the German troops in the suppression war against the Ovaherero and Nama. They demand the dismissal of Von Trotha.
05.08.	Abraham Morris attacks the Germans at Wortel (Nomaos).
08.08.	A new Mining Ordinance is promulgated.
24.08.	The OMEG railway line from Swakopmund to Omaruru is opened for traffic.
03.09.	Cornelius Frederiks is defeated in the battle of Ai-Ais. Thereafter he moves along the Fish River to the Oranje River and from there into the Great Karas Mountains where he joins Marengo’s forces.
06.09.	A telephone line from Windhoek to Gobabis is commissioned.
13.09.	The battle of Nubib in the Zaris Mountains is fought between united Ovaherero and Nama forces under the command of Ovaherero Chief Andreas and the Germans under Major Georg Maercker. A skirmish is fought at Guigatsis between Abraham Morris and the Germans.
15.09.	The battle of Nochas is fought between Jakob Marengo and Johannes Christian and the Germans under Von Erckert. After the battle Marengo and Christian move southwards. On their way to the Oranje River they intercept a German supply convoy at Naruchas, southwest of Kalkfontein-Süd (Karasburg).
23.09.	Jakob Marengo continues his attacks on the Germans at Oas.
28.09.	Jakob Marengo and Johannes Christian attack Heirachabis. The Rhenish missionary Kuhlmann describes a group of 487 Ovaherero imprisoned in the Shark Island concentration camp and notes that they are in a sad state. The South African newspaper, Argus, publishes a series of articles devoted to the atrocities at the hands of the German colonial power in Namibia. It is described how mostly women are used for manual labour on Shark Island. A young transport driver, Percival Griffith, is quoted as following: " ... Most of the prisoners, who compose the working gangs at Angra Pequeña, are sent up from Swakopmund. There are hundreds of them, mostly women and children, and a few old men. There are many small children among them and not a few babies. Children as young as five years of age are made to work and are ill-treated like their unfortunate elders ... Heavy loads of sand and cement have to be carried by the women and children, who are nothing but skin and bone. Their loads are out of all proportions to their strength. I have often seen women and children dropping down. When they fall, they are sjambokked [whipped] by the soldier in charge of the gang, with his full force, until they get up. Across the face was the favourite place for the sjambokking and I have often seen the blood flowing down the faces of the women and children and from their bodies, from the cuts of the weapon ... ."
October	Hendrik Witbooi attacks Kirris Ost but has to escape. The post office in Otavi is reopened. War Graves of German Soldiers fallen in the various Battles against Hendrik Witbooi in the Nama-German Resistance War 1904/1905 Copyright of Photos: Dr. Klaus Dierks
06.10.	Marengo and Christian attack and destroy a small German reconnaissance post at Jerusalem, south of Heirachabis. They then move south to the Oranje River where they attack the military border post of Schuitdrift (Naob)(Groendorn)(10.10.).
13.10.	The second port jetty at Lüderitz is completed. Also here slave labour from the Shark Island concentration camp is used.
24./25.10.	The battle of Hartebeestmund near Pelladrift on the Oranje River is fought between Jakob Marengo with Johannes Christian and the Germans, with heavy losses for the Germans (three officers are killed, three are wounded and 14 soldiers are killed, 35 are wounded).
29.10.	Hendrik Witbooi is killed in action in the battle of Vaalgras (Koichas). He dies 15 minutes after being shot on horseback. Petrus Jod (born 27.12.1863) is also killed. Hendrik Witbooi is succeeded by his son, Isaak Witbooi, also called !Nanseb #Kharib !Nansemab. Isaak moves to Naosanabis (present-day Leonardville which during the South African era is renamed after the Dutch Reformed Church Minister Edward Leonard). Hendrik Witbooi's last Photography (probably Beginning of 1904: see the German Colours "black-white-red" at his left Arm (retouched ?)) Copyright of Photos: Dr. Klaus Dierks Graves of the Witbooi Dynasty at the Gibeon Cemetery: Remembrance Tomb Stone for Hendrik Witbooi Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks Jakob Marengo (Bondelswarts, Ovaherero and other communities), Cornelius Frederiks (Bethany Nama) and Simon Koper (Fransman Nama) continue fighting. Marengo with Christian operate from the rugged mountain land along the Oranje River for the next few months (November 1905 to early March 1906, attacking German patrols and supply convoys in the area around Warmbad). The battle of Arahoab (present-day Aranos) is fought between Nama and Germans under Captain Konrad von Klitzing.
November	The post office at Gochas is reopened. A rinderpest epidemic breaks out.
02.11.	A skirmish between Witbooi Nama and the Germans at Kirris Ost ends with losses for the latter. German War Cemetery at Koës: Reflecting various Skirmishes around Koës between January and October 1905 Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks German War Cemetery at Koës: Reflecting the Skirmish between surviving Witbooi Nama and Germans at Kirris Ost: 02.11.1905 Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks
19.11.	General von Trotha has to leave for Germany. His successor is Von Deimling who stills stays in Germany (until 1906). Acting commander is Colonel Friedrich Theodor Dame.
20.11.	Witbooi Nama Samuel Isaak surrenders to the Germans at Berseba (Georg Maercker). Other Nama, such as \|\|Hawoben Chief Jan Hendrik, follow.
26.11.	The German Emperor orders the confiscation without compensation of the properties of SWA indigenes.
28.11.	Friedrich von Lindequist becomes the new Governor of the colony.
December 01.12.	Okowakuatjiwi (later renamed Kalkfeld) is surveyed. With the mediation of the German missionaries, Von Lindequist calls on the Ovaherero to return in peace and submit to German authority. The Ovaherero should assemble in Otjihaenena (Okatumba)(missionary Diehl) and Omburo (near Omaruru)(missionary Kuhlmann). Further concentration camps [Konzentrationslager] are established in Otjosazu and later Otjosongombe. Nikanor Hoveka becomes a foreman in Otjihaenena and manages to survive. With Heinrich Vedder of the Rhenish Missionary Society in German South West Africa at Swakopmund by his side to translate "sentence for sentence" from German into Otjiherero, Von Lindequist chastises the assembled Ovaherero prisoners-of-war for unjustly causing the war. He announces that they are now living the punishment they deserved: "That your people are now destroyed, that so many have been miserably killed, that some of your chiefs have gone over the border, that you find yourselves imprisoned, that is your own fault. ..." He then remarks that he could not ameliorate their suffering until all Ovaherero had come in from the field. "You have the opportunity to send them the message to surrender themselves. Fair treatment is guaranteed to them ... but I can say to you that every one who conducts himself well will also be treated well ... ". What Von Lindequist means by "good conduct" is co-operation in a system of forced labour which the Germans establish as the heart of the camp system. Documents describing in detail the location of the Swakopmund concentration camp (or camps) have not yet come to light. Possibly one camp is established initially near the port department on the open beach. Later an additional main camp is established north of the Swakopmund State Railway Station. One eye witness (Hugo Fraser) describes the situation at the beach camp (before Von Trotha arrived): "When I got to Swakopmund I saw very many Herero prisoners of war had been captured in the rebellion which was still going on in the country. There must have been about 600 men, women and children prisoners. They were in an enclosure on the beach, fenced in with barbed wire. The women were made to do hard labour just like the men. The sand is very deep and heavy there. The women had to load and unload carts and trolleys, and also to draw Scotch-cart loads of goods to Nonidas where there was a depot. The women were put in spans of eight to each Scotch-cart and were made to pull like draught animals. Many were half-starved and weak, and died of sheer exhaustion. Those who did not work well were brutally flogged with sjamboks. I even saw women knocked down with pick handles. The German soldiers did this. I personally saw six women murdered by German soldiers. They were ripped open with bayonets. I saw the bodies. I was there for six months, and the Hereros died daily in large numbers as a result of exhaustion, ill-treatment and exposure." This report is confirmed by Heinrich Vedder of the Rhenish Missionary Society in German South West Africa who wrote to the RMS that the Ovaherero: "were placed behind a double row of barbed wire ... and housed in pathetic structures constructed out of simple sacking and planks, in such a manner that in one structure 30 - 50 people were forced to stay without distinction to age or sex. From early morning until late at night, on weekends as well as on Sundays and holidays, they had to work under the clubs of raw overseers until they broke down. Added to this food was extremely scarce. Rice without any necessary additions was not enough to support their bodies, already weakened by life in the field [as refugees] and used to the hot sun of the interior, from the cold and restless exertion of all their powers in the prison conditions in Swakopmund. Like cattle hundreds were driven to death and like cattle they were buried. This opinion might seem hard or exaggerated. ... but the chronicle may not withhold such a remorseless rawness, lusty sensuality, brutal overlordship broadly perpetrated here by troops and civilians. A full description is hardly possible." An estimate reveals that in total between 2 250 and 2 750 Ovaherero prisoner-of-war (men, women and children) die in the Swakopmund camps between 1905 and 1908. Virtually nothing is recorded about the disposition of those who died. Most likely they are buried in the old cemetery bordered by the Swakop River to the south and Kramersdorf to the north. Manasse !Noreseb Gamab from Hoachanas (!Hoaxa!nâs), ally of Hendrik Witbooi, is killed in action in the battle of Gubuoms (!Gu-!oms), south-east of Aminuis. According to Kai5khaun oral evidence the Germans behead Chief Manasse and bring his head to Germany. The Kai\|\|khaun from Hoachanas obtain a new leader only in 1922 (until 1936)(!Hoëb \|\|Oasmab (also named Fritz Lazarus \|\|Oaseb)). The Kai5khaun Heroe's Day (05.12.2004): Death of Chief Manasse !Noreseb Gamab against the Germans on 01.12.1905 at Gubuoms: Guest of Honour: Klaus Dierks (Rigth Photo: Karen Dierks, née von Bremen to the Right): Hardap Region Copyright of Photos: Jürgen Leskien The Kai5khaun Heroe's Day (05.12.2004): Death of Chief Manasse !Noreseb Gamab against the Germans on 01.12.1905 at Gubuoms: Guest of Honour: Klaus Dierks: together with Reverend Markus Kooper Copyright of Photos: Jürgen Leskien The Kai5khaun Heroe's Day (05.12.2004): Death of Chief Manasse !Noreseb Gamab against the Germans on 01.12.1905 at Gubuoms: The Unveiling of a Memorial for all the Kai5khaun Chiefs since 1695 at the Grave of Chief Manasse !Noreseb Gamab
15.12.	The German Reichstag approves funds to build a new railway line from Lüderitz to the east. The new railway would reduce the transport rates from Lüderitz to Keetmanshoop from 30 Mark per 500 kg to 9 Mark. Garub Station at the Aus to Lüderitz Railway Line (currently under Re-construction) which was built between December 1905 and November 1906: 30 km west of Aus: Karas Region Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks The "Garub Water Railway Line" which provided the Water for the Construction of the Aus to Lüderitz Railway Line: with German Writer Jürgen Leskien: August 2002: Karas Region Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks The "Garub Water Railway Line": Karas Region Copyright of Photos: Dr. Klaus Dierks
17.12.	The battle of Toasis, south of Aminuis, is fought between Simon Koper and the Germans under Major von der Heyde. Captain Kliefoth is killed.
26.12.	German Emperor Wilhelm II signs a formal order for the expropriation of tribal lands.
27.12.	Construction of the railway line from Lüderitz to Aus begins. The Deutsche Kolonial Eisenbahn Bau und Betriebs Gesellschaft is responsible for executing this project. The chief engineer is Sönke Nissen. This railway line is built with concentration camp labour from Shark Island, without recourse to proper nutrition and medical facilities. The statistics of the railway project is frightening. According to numbers kept in the records of the German Colonial Administration, a total of 2 014 concentration camp prisoners were used for the railway construction between January 1906 and June 1907. From these prisoners 1 359 died while working on the line: a 67% mortality rate. This means that every hundred metres of the railway line from Lüderitz to Aus account for one dead Namibian Shark Island prisoner.
28.12.	Major von Estorff takes his new command at Warmbad . His main task is to secure the transport link between Lüderitz and Keetmanshoop.

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