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
Henricks 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
Marengos 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 Olifants River). Witbooi Nama Headman Salomon Saal
dies of thirst after the battle.
Jakob Marengo attacks a German military post under the command of Captain dArrest 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 Gods 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 Marengos 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. |