Over 121 years ago, German general Lothar von Trotha issued his infamous 2 October 2 1904, Vernichtungsbefehl or extermination order against all Ovaherero who did not leave German territory.
The Trotha’s order in English:
“I, the great general of the German soldiers, sent this letter to the Hereros. The Hereros are German subjects no longer.
They have killed, stolen, cut off the ears and other parts of the body of wounded soldiers, and now are too cowardly to want to fight any longer.
I announce to the people that whoever hands me one of the chiefs shall receive 1 000 marks and 5 000 marks for Samuel Maherero.
The Herero nation must now leave the country. If it refuses, I shall compel it to do so with the ‘Groot Rohr’ (cannon). Any Herero found inside the German frontier, with or without a gun or cattle, will be executed.
I shall spare neither women nor children. I shall give the order to drive them away and fire on them.
Such are my words to the Herero people.” The great general of the mighty German Kaiser.”
The original order was drafted in German but also reproduced and circulated in Otjiherero.
In this respect, while copies of the German proclamation can be found at the Namibia National Archives and elsewhere, the Botswana National Archives holds the only known surviving original copy of the Otjiherero text, uncovered by Jan Gewald some years ago [“The Great General of the Kaiser”, Botswana Notes and Records, vol. 26, Botswana Society, 1994.]
Even today, some still question whether the order was actually intended to be carried out or was just an act of psychological warfare.
Excerpts from Von Trotha’s private journals, however, confirm his desire to thoroughly destroy the Ovaherero. In this respect, the following journal entry by Von Trotha was written within 24 hours of the order’s issuance:
“Now I have to ask myself how to end the war with the Hereros. The views of the governor and also a few old Afrikaners, on the one hand, and my views, on the other, differ completely.
They first wanted to negotiate for some time already and regard the Herero nation as necessary labour material for the future development of the country.
I believe that the nation as such should be annihilated, or, if this was not possible by tactical measures, have to be expelled from the country by operative means and further detailed treatment.
“This will be possible if the waterholes from Grootfontein to Gobabis are occupied.
“The constant movement of our troops will enable us to find the small groups of the nation who have moved back westwards and destroy them gradually…I find it most appropriate that the nation perishes instead of infecting our soldiers and diminishing their supplies of water and food.
Apart from that, mildness on my side would only be interpreted as weakness on the other side.
“They have to perish in the Sandveld or try to cross the Bechuanaland border.
In the aftermath of the order, some 80% of the Ovaherero perished, while most of the survivors, including their king, Samuel kaTjamuaha, found refuge in Botswana.
– Jeff Ramsay is a published authority on Botswana History and a former senior civil servant.
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