The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1918-09-12
DISCLOSURES OF
 AWFUL CRUELTIES
 IN GERMAN AFRICA
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 the Germans. These were some of the things which goaded the natives l into rebellion, which was suppressed | by ruthless cruelty resulting virtually In the extermination of the three tribes involved. The Hereros were re- duced from S0,000 to 15,100, the Hot tentots from 20, 900 to $500, and the Berg Damaras from 39,000 to 12,000. | Thus 80 per cent. of the Hereo people disappeared and more than half of 1 the Hottentots and Berg Damaras shared the same fate. How 1t was done was to supercede the lenienty Gov. Leutwein by the notorious Gov. Trotha. fresh from Germany to East Africa, where he suppressed the Arab rebellion by a wholesale massacre. Gov Trotha issued an "extermtnation
 order," the terms of which provided that no Herero man, woman, child or babe was to receive mercy or quarter. "Sill every one of them; take no
 prisoners" he said in these orders Evidence that the order was only
 too faithfully carried out Is recorded
 in story of Gov. Trotha's former |
 was ordered to kill a young Herero
 woman, He refused in disgust,
 whereupon & German soldier showed him how to do 1t and then held the
 dripping bayonet in his face. An of
 ficer and German soldiers were stand
 ing around but none interfered in be- half of the woman.
 Another reliable witness who wal with Gov. Trotha for two years, testi.
 fled that he knew of no instance oi prisoners being spared Even after
 the rebellion surviving natives fareG
 but little better.
 One of the most significant docu
 ments in the report is a secret circu
 lar by Gov. Heitz in 1912 and address
 ed to magistrates in which he refer!
 to the desperate ceiling becoming pre- ' valent among the natives.
 "The reason,'' he says, "whicl
 unanimously Is given for this fact i that the brutal excesses of European anti-natives are alarmingly increas
 ing. It Is regrettable that even polic' . officers become guilty of such of | lenses in a few cases and that sucl 7 offenses are not punished by tn
 courts of law in way that they ough , to be according to sense of justic
 to the natives"
 Acting Secreatry Gorges supplie
 sworn statements from natives whicl f give some idea of the reign of terro , existing among them. He adds: . "The instances of cruelty, injustic
 and barbarism might be multiplied al 0 most indefinitely. Instances of gros 8 bestial conduct which for sheer de s pravity and immortality are we'll nigh 6 unbelievable also are contained in tn file of aff1davits, but they are hard1 t fit for publication"
 Q Part of the report deals at 1engt with the position of the natives be
 fore the law. The ordinance gov erning criminal Jurisdiction over tn natives contained provisions repug Il nant to every conception of justice ? The natives were no tried in ordinar s courts, but by officers who also di
 police duty and had authority to dela |. gate their judicial powers to subordin = ate officials. Imprisonment in chain : and fiogging were allowed not only fo r serious crimes but as '"disciplinar 6 measures" on the application of a
 employer, or for offenses against tn # master and servant law, or for insut O ordination, continued idleness or nc Y glect of duty.
 2 From the records of German cour' If it is clear that native evidence habi Ut ually was disregarded and that the ne L. lives were not allowed to give test Ie mony on oath. The natives thu ot were kept in a state of fear. N Ie opportunity for redress was open 1
 them and they dared not go to tt r. police with complaints. Crimes f W Germans, however, against nativ' la were reviewed by the courts.