Posted on 02/15/2003 3:39:52 PM PST by MadIvan
MORE than 80 years after his death, evidence gathered by a young British officer in southern Africa during the first world war is to be cited in a court case in which the German government will be accused of genocide in Namibia.
German troops provided a foretaste of horrors later perpetrated by the Nazis. The atrocities were uncovered by British troops when they invaded the colony after war broke out.
The German government faces demands for an official apology and $2 billion compensation in a case to be heard in a Washington court next month. Lawyers for the Herero people believe documents and affidavits collected by Major Thomas O’Reilly could be crucial.
Atrocities began in 1903, when Kaiser Wilhelm II sent an army of 10,000 men to quash an uprising by Nama and Herero tribesmen in what was then South West Africa. Lothar von Trotha, a general renowned for his brutality, issued an extermination order.
“Any Herero found within the German borders with or without a gun, with or without cattle, will be shot,” he announced.
The Germans poisoned watering holes and men, women and children were hanged, shot and bayoneted. Survivors were later sent to concentration camps on the coast or pushed back into the Kalahari desert, where they died of thirst. As many as 80% of the estimated 100,000 Herero were killed.
Prisoners were also used as human guinea pigs by army doctors, many of whom later worked for the Nazis; in one case 18 inmates were hanged so that their brains could be measured. Their heads were pickled and sent to Germany. Children were used in gruesome experiments by Eugen Fischer, who later taught Nazi doctors including Josef Mengele, the Auschwitz “angel of death”.
“We were a testing ground for the Holocaust,” said Kuaima Riruako, the Herero chief heading the lawsuit. “My father is over 90 and was lucky to have survived, but we all still bear the scars. The descendants of people who carried out these evil crimes still occupy our land and no German government has ever apologised.”
Whitehall initially backed O’Reilly’s attempts to expose the atrocities, then changed its mind, fearing the revelations could fuel anti-colonial movements in the empire. O’Reilly resigned in 1918 and died soon afterwards in Cape Town, probably a victim of that year’s influenza pandemic.
Regards, Ivan
Same here, but what about people like Je$$e Jacka$$ and the rest of the left-wing "civil rights" industry here in the US? Do they stand up for the largely voiceless and anonymous Namibians, or do they rush to help Germany, currently basking in worldwide media and Hollywood adoration for their anti-American and (especially) anti-Bush stance?
Actually, now that I see these words, I rwalize that the question has answered itself.
The German government, being sued by Africans, in the USA. Is their a logical reason this is being heard in a US Court?
Should this not go before the World Court?
Not to be picky here, but we are incurring court costs, and then possible enforcement of the claim, should they win.
The family of Harry "Breaker" Morant and his fellow Bushveldt Carbineers who were tried for alleged "atrocities" by the British military during the Boer War are probably owed about a billion dollars or so in restitution.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.