XXᵉ siècle – XXᵉ siècle
Lüderitz district, Namibia
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
Shark Island was a German concentration camp in the Lüderitz district during the Namibian War. It held Herero and Nama prisoners under severe conditions, including forced labour, deprivation, disease, and violence. Mortality was extraordinarily high, and the camp became one of the clearest sites of the destructive colonial detention system described in the passage.
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Le récit
Shark Island, situated off Lüderitz, received prisoners from the Herero and Nama communities. Nama prisoners began arriving there in September 1906, while the camp had already become a major site of detention for Herero prisoners. By the end of 1906, more than 2,000 Nama-speaking prisoners were held on the island.
The prisoners endured hunger, inadequate shelter, poor sanitation, disease, and forced labour. A planned deep-sea harbour was abandoned after only twenty Nama prisoners were considered capable of continuing the work by January. Photographs taken by a German officer in 1905 were described as documenting the prisoners’ desperate conditions and the domination exercised by the military.
The death toll was immense. Official figures cited for the closure of the camp recorded about 450 survivors from more than 2,000 original Nama prisoners, implying that at least 1,550 had died; Major von Estorff gave a higher mortality figure of 1,900. Shark Island closed in April 1907, although Nama survivors remained in captivity until the end of German rule in 1915.
XXᵉ siècle – XXᵉ siècle
Lüderitz district, Namibia
Traduction non disponible · Original (anglais) · français indisponible
Shark Island was a German concentration camp in the Lüderitz district during the Namibian War. It held Herero and Nama prisoners under severe conditions, including forced labour, deprivation, disease, and violence. Mortality was extraordinarily high, and the camp became one of the clearest sites of the destructive colonial detention system described in the passage.
Poursuivre l’exploration
Le récit
Shark Island, situated off Lüderitz, received prisoners from the Herero and Nama communities. Nama prisoners began arriving there in September 1906, while the camp had already become a major site of detention for Herero prisoners. By the end of 1906, more than 2,000 Nama-speaking prisoners were held on the island.
The prisoners endured hunger, inadequate shelter, poor sanitation, disease, and forced labour. A planned deep-sea harbour was abandoned after only twenty Nama prisoners were considered capable of continuing the work by January. Photographs taken by a German officer in 1905 were described as documenting the prisoners’ desperate conditions and the domination exercised by the military.
The death toll was immense. Official figures cited for the closure of the camp recorded about 450 survivors from more than 2,000 original Nama prisoners, implying that at least 1,550 had died; Major von Estorff gave a higher mortality figure of 1,900. Shark Island closed in April 1907, although Nama survivors remained in captivity until the end of German rule in 1915.
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