From 20th century
German South West Africa, including Omaruru and southern and central Namibia
German concentration camps were established during the aftermath of the Namibian War to imprison defeated African populations, including Herero and Nama men, women, and children. The camps combined detention with forced labour and were associated with extreme misery and very high mortality. Missionary collection camps also operated for destitute survivors, while people outside the camps remained exposed to arbitrary shootings, public hangings, poisoned water holes, hunger, and thirst.
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The Story
After the period of open conflict, German authorities shifted from battlefield operations toward the imprisonment of defeated African communities. Men, women, and children were placed in concentration camps and forced to labour. The conditions were described as terrible, producing extreme misery and very high mortality among the inmates.
On 12 December 1904, von Trotha rescinded his extermination order against the Herero at Berlin’s command, but this did not end coercive violence. Arbitrary shootings and public hangings continued in central Namibia and the south. German patrols also struggled to locate survivors in the veld, where people faced killing if discovered in the bush or near poisoned water holes.
In November 1905, von Lindequist allowed Rhenish missionaries to establish collection camps. These camps offered a place where destitute survivors could present themselves, but they existed within a wider system of colonial detention and forced labour. A photograph on printed page 173 shows Herero prisoners presenting themselves for detention at Omaruru in 1905, after the defeat and slaughter of 1904.
From 20th century
German South West Africa, including Omaruru and southern and central Namibia
German concentration camps were established during the aftermath of the Namibian War to imprison defeated African populations, including Herero and Nama men, women, and children. The camps combined detention with forced labour and were associated with extreme misery and very high mortality. Missionary collection camps also operated for destitute survivors, while people outside the camps remained exposed to arbitrary shootings, public hangings, poisoned water holes, hunger, and thirst.
Continue exploring
The Story
After the period of open conflict, German authorities shifted from battlefield operations toward the imprisonment of defeated African communities. Men, women, and children were placed in concentration camps and forced to labour. The conditions were described as terrible, producing extreme misery and very high mortality among the inmates.
On 12 December 1904, von Trotha rescinded his extermination order against the Herero at Berlin’s command, but this did not end coercive violence. Arbitrary shootings and public hangings continued in central Namibia and the south. German patrols also struggled to locate survivors in the veld, where people faced killing if discovered in the bush or near poisoned water holes.
In November 1905, von Lindequist allowed Rhenish missionaries to establish collection camps. These camps offered a place where destitute survivors could present themselves, but they existed within a wider system of colonial detention and forced labour. A photograph on printed page 173 shows Herero prisoners presenting themselves for detention at Omaruru in 1905, after the defeat and slaughter of 1904.
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