Report on the Natives of South-West Africa and Their Treatment by Germany

In preparing a statement dealing with the native races of South-West Afries, and having special reference to their history and treatment while under German domination, it is desirable to give a brief outline of the ways and means by which German influence was introduced, atid of the events which led up to the consolidation of meh influence by subsequent annexation.

It is furthermore necemary, in order to establish a basis from which to examine the matter and to obtain a correct perspective, that the avowed native policy of Germany, as given utterance to by her statesmen and other representative Gerians should be indicated.

of particular value and significance would be the official declarations of policy made about, or prior to, the year 1800, when the Anglo-German Agreement was entered into. Such statements must at that time at least have carried much weight with British statesmen, and must, without doubt, have influenced them in deciding on behalf of Great Britain, officially to sanction the formal annexation according to agreed boundaries of South-West Africa to the German Crown More especially must Germany's aims have been of interest in view of the fact that British statesmen knew then that the Hereros and other native races in this area desired British protection in preference to that of Germany, and it must presumably have been expected that they would be as well off under German control as under the Union Jack.

Having ascertained what those declarations of policy were, it will not be a difficult task to discover, on the incontrovertible evidence of proved historical facts, whether Germany ever at any time put her defined policy into practice. It will be easy to judge whether, in terms of this publicly declared policy, the native races of South-West Africa were humanely, honestly, and justly treated, or whether, owing to alterations in or departure from that policy or an express refusal to apply it in actual practice, the reverse was the case.

In Part I. a rapid survey of the history of this country from the time Europeans first penetrated into it is given, the methods by which Germany proceeded to establish her dominion are shortly shown, and an account of the atrocities committed on the natives is furnished. Part II. is devoted to an analysis of the position of the natives under the criminal law. The time available for the collection of material for incorporation into this report and for the careful collation of that material has been brief; but, notwithstanding. large amount of evidence is presented which contains irrefutable proofs of the gross ineptitude with which Germany entered upon her scheme of colonising this territory, of the callous indifference with which she treated the guaranteed rights of the native peoples established here, and of the cruelties to which she subjected those peoples when the burden became too heavy and they attempted to assert their rights.

To publish all the information that has been obtained would form too bulky a volume. The object of this report is to present the essential features only in an easily assimilable form. Enough is, I think, contained herein to leave no doubts as to the terrible courses pursued both by the German Colonial Administration, acting either under the orders or with the acquiescence of the Berlin Government, and by individual Germans settled or stationed in the country, or as to the deplorable plight the natives fell into under the brutalities and robberies to which they were systematically subjected.