Le premier génocide du XXe siècle : Herero et Nama dans le Sud-Ouest africain allemand, 1904-1908

An exhibition to discover at the Mémorial de la Shoah.

In 1904, in reaction to the rules imposed by the German colonial administration, as well as the abuses and mistreatment by the colonists, a revolt broke out in German South West Africa, today Namibia. The forces of the Second Reich brutally suppressed it and defeated the Herero.

An extermination order – issued by General Lothar von Trotha on 2 October 1904 – instructed the Kaiser's troops to kill indiscriminately, thus condemning men, women, and children. The Nama in turn took up arms against the Germans and suffered the same fate as the Herero.

In the concentration camps opened in 1905, such as those in Windhoek, Swakopmund, and Shark Island, Nama and Herero prisoners were eliminated through labour and succumbed to disease, ill-treatment, and malnutrition.

Skulls of victims were then sent to Germany for racial scientific research. Between 1904 and 1908, approximately 80% of the Herero and 50% of the Nama were exterminated: a crime in African colonial history considered the first genocide of the 20th century.

Scientific curatorship: Leonor Faber - Jonker, Leiden University, Netherlands. Coordination: Sophie Nagiscarde, Élise Arnaud, Mémorial de la Shoah. Book now