Lothar von Trotha

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Lieutenant General Lothar von Trotha (ca.1905)

Adrian Dietrich Lothar von Trotha (born July 3, 1848 in Magdeburg , † March 31, 1920 in Bonn ) was a Prussian infantry general . His "extermination order" is considered to be the basis of the genocide of the Herero and Nama .

Life

family

Lothar von Trotha came from a Prussian officer family who belonged to the extensive old noble family von Trotha from the Saalekreis with ancestral home at Burg Trotha in today's Halle-Trotha . A frequent change of residence, due to his father's profession as an officer, shaped his childhood. Trotha attended high schools in Wittenberg, Koblenz and Cologne.

His first marriage was on October 15, 1872 in Mainz, Bertha Neumann (born February 15, 1850 in Graudenz ; † October 9, 1905 in Berlin ), the daughter of the accountant August Neumann and his wife Auguste Spaencke. There were two children from this marriage.

In her second marriage, Trotha married Lucy Goldstein-Brinckmann on May 19, 1912 in London (born April 30, 1881 in Frankfurt am Main , † January 30, 1958 in Bonn ), the daughter of bank director Heinrich Goldstein-Brinckmann and Christel Brinckmann. The marriage remained childless.

Military career

Lauenburg Jäger Battalion No. 9 (1902) Lieutenant Colonel Löthar von Trotha.jpg

Trotha came on 24 November 1865 as a cadet in the 2nd Guards Regiment walk the Prussian army and participated in the Austro-Prussian and -Prussian War German part. There he received the Iron Cross 2nd class. As a major , he commanded the Lauenburg Jäger Battalion No. 9 in Ratzeburg from 1892 . From June 1894, meanwhile promoted to lieutenant colonel, he was commanded à la suite of the battalion to serve at the Foreign Office . He was entrusted with the post of Deputy Governor of German East Africa and the functions of commander of the local protection force . In mid-August 1897, Trotha returned to Germany and, as a colonel , was in command of the infantry regiment “von Stülpnagel” (5th Brandenburg) No. 48 until December 15, 1899 . He was then assigned to lead the 72nd Infantry Brigade . On January 27, 1900, he was appointed commander of the brigade while being promoted to major general .

On August 17, 1900, he was given command of the 1st East Asian Infantry Brigade during the Boxer Rebellion . After his return from China , Trotha was initially transferred to the officers of the army from October 28, 1901 to January 26, 1902 and then transferred to Torgau as commander of the 16th Infantry Brigade . On February 17, 1903, he was commissioned to lead the 16th Division and, while being promoted to Lieutenant General , he was appointed Division Commander on March 22, 1903.

Commander of the protection force in German South West Africa

Lothar von Trotha in 1904 with his staff

On May 3, 1904, after Theodor Leutwein was recalled, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief and Governor of German Southwest Africa with the task of putting down the Herero uprising. The appointment of Trotha as commander of the Imperial Protection Force in German South West Africa was controversial due to his character. In the officer corps of the Schutztruppe there was even a discussion about submitting a petition directly to Kaiser Wilhelm II in order to cancel Trotha's appointment. According to the reports, Trotha is portrayed as being downright power-hungry, tough, adamant, and resistant to advice. Accordingly, Trotha was unpopular in German South West Africa. There were serious clashes with officers of the Schutztruppe, e. B. with Colonel Berthold Deimling or Major Ludwig von Estorff . The local auxiliaries reacted in their own way: Cornelius Frederiks called in sick and returned home with his Bethanians . Desertions occurred in the Witbooi department . The loyalty of the Nama , especially that of Hendrik Witbooi , was shaken. The Nama uprising in October 1904 was a direct result of the change of command from Colonel Leutwein to von Trotha.

In his " Appeal to the Herero People (see below) " Trotha called on the rebels to surrender their leaders and announced the expulsion of the people and the killing of males. Under his leadership, the Herero were decisively defeated by the Schutztruppe at the Battle of Waterberg and fled to the dry savannah of the Omaheke . The Germans chased the refugees there from the few surrounding water points, tens of thousands died of thirst while fleeing.

The action of the Imperial Protection Troops under Trotha against the Herero, long supported by the Chief of the General Staff, Alfred von Schlieffen , and the Kaiser is considered the first genocide of the 20th century and killed around 80,000 people. This assessment is based primarily on the previously stated intention of the destruction of the Herero people by von Trotha and Schlieffen, which was supported by other people and groups. In fact, even in the company of missionaries, the will to destroy entire tribes was openly expressed. Von Trotha himself has repeatedly expressed his willingness to destroy the Herero. The order to shoot with the declared refusal to take prisoners in connection with the closure of the water points after the Battle of Waterberg on August 11, 1904 represented the practical implementation of this intention. The result was the flight into the Omaheke desert and the dying of thirst for many Herero . The survivors were interned in concentration camps far from their original settlement areas and under adverse climatic conditions, which only around every second inmate survived.

Appeal to the Herero people
Last preserved copy of Trotha's extermination order, Botswana National Archives

“Appeal to the Herero people

Copy to OK 17290 Osombo-Windembe, October 2, 1904
Command of the Schutztruppe.
J. No. 3737

I, the great general of the German soldiers, am sending this letter to the Herero people. The Hereros are no longer German subjects. They murdered and stolen, cut off the ears and noses and other body parts of wounded soldiers, and now out of cowardice they no longer want to fight. I tell the people: Anyone who delivers one of the captains to one of my stations as a prisoner receives 1,000 marks, whoever brings Samuel Maharero receives 5,000 marks. The Herero people, however, have to leave the country.
If the people don't do this, I will force them to do so with the Groot pipe. Within the German border every Herero is shot with or without a rifle, with or without cattle, I no longer take in women and children, drive them back to their people or have them shot at. These are my words to the Hereros people.
The great general of the powerful German emperor.

This decree is to be communicated with the roll-call of the troops with the addition that the troops that catch one of the captains will also receive the appropriate reward and that the shooting at women and children is to be understood as being shot over them in order to kill them To force running. I assume with certainty that this decree will lead to no more male prisoners being taken, but will not degenerate into cruelty against women and children. These will run away if they are shot twice over them. The troops will remain aware of the good reputation of the German soldier.

the commander
signed v. Trotha, Lieutenant General. "

- Lothar von Trotha :
Lothar von Trotha's grave in the Poppelsdorf cemetery in Bonn

Recall

After the death of the Nama leader Hendrik Witbooi on October 29, 1905 in the battle near Fahlgras, Trotha considered his task to be over and asked for his recall. He left the country on November 19, 1905. Friedrich von Lindequist succeeded Trothas as governor, and Colonel Berthold von Deimling as commander of the protection force. Since Trotha was held responsible for the sluggish course of the "Hottentot War", he - like the governor Leutwein - fell out of favor with the emperor. Although it has Trotha with the Order of le Mérite Pour award in order to honor his military successes. When he arrived in Berlin , however, Trotha was demonstratively not received by Kaiser Wilhelm II and later shunned by official circles. He was for the May 21, 1906 disposition made and received on January 27, 1910 the character as General of Infantry awarded.

After the death of his wife, von Trotha married Lucy Goldstein-Brinckmann in 1912. He died on March 31, 1920 in Bonn.

Voices from and about Trotha

This appointment was also consistently rejected by the old Africans . Hermann von Wissmann , researcher, traverser of Africa and officer, judged von Trotha as follows:

"He was a bad statesman, which was not enough as a leader in war, and a ignoble, selfish and cold-hearted person."

- Hermann von Wissmann :

The later commander of the protection force, Major von Estorff, according to the General Staff, one of our most experienced Africans , wrote:

“Wissmann, who knew him from East Africa, had opposed his appointment, but he was not heard. How is that supposed to be in large circumstances when such a lack of knowledge of human nature is already being revealed at home. "

- from Estorff :
Quote

“To use violence with blatant terrorism and even with cruelty was and is my policy. I am destroying the insurgent tribes in rivers of blood and rivers of money. Something new can only arise from this sowing. "

- Lothar von Trotha :

Street names

In Namibia streets, including those in Otjiwarongo , are named after von Trotha. In Germany too, streets were named after von Trotha. In Munich in 2006, the Von-Trotha-Strasse in Herero street renamed.

Sorry family

There are no living descendants of Lothar von Trotha. In 2004 members of Trotha's family invited Alfons Maharero , a Herero chief and descendant of Samuel Maharero , to Germany. They publicly apologized for Lothar von Trotha's actions and asked for forgiveness. In October 2007 a return visit was made to Omaruru . However, Alfons Maharero has no function as the official representative of the Herero living today.

"We are ashamed of the terrible events that took place in Namibia a century ago."

- Thilo von Trotha

literature

  • Genealogical manual of the nobility . Noble houses A Volume XXVI, p. 551, Volume 126 of the complete series, CA Starke Verlag, Limburg (Lahn) 2001, ISSN  0435-2408
  • Georg Rau: German South West Africa. Images from the wars against the Hereros and Hottentots. With a foreword by Lieutenant General ZD Lothar v. Trotha; Verlag Stern & Schiele, Berlin-Schöneberg 1907. s. a. https://d-nb.info/1118376927/34
  • Jürgen Zimmerer, Joachim Zeller (ed.) (2003): Genocide in German South West Africa. The colonial war (1904–1908) in Namibia and its consequences. Berlin: left.

Web links

Wikiquote: Lothar von Trotha  - Quotes
Commons : Lothar von Trotha  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Siegfried von Ziegner: History of the Lauenburg Jäger Battalion No. 9. Ratzeburg 1898, published by HHC Freystatzky's printing house.
  2. ↑ Joachim von Goetzke: Officer list of the Royal Prussian Emperor Franz Garde Grenadier Regiment No. 2. 1814-1914. Verlag Paul Parey, Berlin 1914, p. 247.
  3. ↑ Major General Nikolaus von Endres reported to the Bavarian War Ministry on May 10, 1904 : “that the appointment of Lieutenant General von Trotha as leader of the expeditionary corps against the opposition of the Reich Chancellor , the Chief of the General Staff and the Colonial Director by his Majesty [Kaiser Wilhelm II., Note d. Ed.] . “Cf. Helmut Bley, South-West Africa under German rule 1894-1914 , Evanston 1971, p. 158 ff.
  4. ↑ a b c Dominik J. Schaller: “I believe that the nation as such must be destroyed”: Colonial war and genocide in “German South West Africa” 1904–1907 . In: Journal of Genocide Research . Volume 6, No. 3, 2004, pp. 395-430, here: p. 398.
  5. ^ Johannes Spiecker : Diary [archive of the Rhenish Mission, file number RMG 3.346]: 885f
  6. ^ Johannes Spiecker: Diary [archive of the Rhenish Mission, file number RMG 3.346]: 542
  7. ↑ Cf. Bundesarchiv Berlin Lichterfelde, R 1001, No. 2089, Bl. 100 ff. Quoted in: Michael Behnen (Ed.): Sources on German foreign policy in the age of imperialism 1890-1911. Darmstadt 1977, p. 291 ff.
  8. ^ Jan Antosch, Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin: Lothar von Trotha 1848-1920 , accessed on June 15, 2019.
  9. ↑ a b Cf. Walter Nuhn , Sturm über Südwest. The Herero uprising of 1904. A gloomy chapter in Namibia's German colonial past , Bonn 1989.
  10. ↑ Trotha to Leutwein, quoted from Horst Drechsler: South West Africa under German colonial rule. The struggle of the Herero and Nama against German imperialism (1884–1915) . 2nd edition, Berlin 1984, p. 156. Cf. Mauerstraße 45/46: The High Command of the Protection Troops . In: Africa in Berlin - A city walk of the German Historical Museum .
  11. ↑ From Trotha street name angers Ovaherero. The Namibian, December 15, 2016.
  12. ^ Munich · ÖDP city councils demand completion of the Münchner Wochenanzeiger article from February 19, 2018. Retrieved on February 19, 2018.
  13. ^ German apology for the Herero massacre . On: derstandard.at.
  14. ↑ sueddeutsche.de - Commemoration of the Herero genocide ( Memento of December 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Trotha, Lothar von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Trotha, Adrian Dietrich Lothar von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian general of the infantry
DATE OF BIRTH July 3, 1848
PLACE OF BIRTH Magdeburg
DATE OF DEATH March 31, 1920
Place of death Bonn