Hola massacre

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Hola
Hola (Kenya)
Hola (1 ° 24 ′ 0 ″ S, 40 ° 0 ′ 0 ″ E)
Hola
Coordinates 1 ° 24 ′  S , 40 ° 0 ′  E Coordinates: 1 ° 24 ′  S , 40 ° 0 ′  E
Basic data
Country Kenya
ISO 3166-2 KE

The Hola massacre occurred in 1959 during the Mau Mau War in the British colony of Kenya . Eleven inmates were violently killed in the Hola prison camp; the discovery of cover-ups by the colonial administration accelerated the country's independence in 1963.

The massacre

The Hola camp was set up to house prisoners who were classified as particularly "hard-boiled". In January 1959 the camp counted 506 prisoners, of whom 127 were housed in a remote closed camp. This more remote camp was reserved for the most uncooperative prisoners. They refused to participate in the "colonial rehabilitation process", do physical labor and obey orders, even under threats of violence.

The camp commandant therefore drew up a plan according to which 88 of the prisoners were to be forced to work. On March 3, 1959, this plan was put into practice - with the result that 11 of the prisoners were beaten to death by guards. The 77 surviving prisoners suffered severe permanent damage.

Dealing with what happened

Attempted cover-up and exposure

The first report of the incident appeared in the East African Standard newspaper . The front page article reported that ten people had died in the Hola detention center. The newspaper quoted the official statement from the colonial authorities: “The men were part of a group of about 100 people who were digging trenches. The deaths occurred after drinking water from a water truck that was used by all members of the working group and the guards. "

Some of the early reports only marginally mention the incident, as many of these reports were published or funded by either the British or the colonial government. Most of the secondary texts published in the first decade after the massacre sympathized with the British or colonial point of view.

However, more information about the incident became known in the first few weeks. An investigation into the deaths found that the 11 detainees had died as a result of violence, not from tainted water. The forensic medical findings read: "They died [...] after numerous beatings and other injuries." In June, the term "Hola Scandal" appeared in the international media. According to reports, 85 inmates were called to work on March 3, 1959, but most of them threw themselves on the ground and refused to work, after which they were beaten by the guards. As a result, according to the report, 11 inmates ended up dying and another 23 had to be hospitalized.

Memorial to the Hola Massacre, Kenya

Consideration in the historical context

Scientific research has revealed that much of the history of British and colonial administration was covered up during the transition to independence in Kenya, and many official documents were deliberately destroyed during the transition.

The American historian Caroline Elkins was able to prove, on the basis of available original documents and through interviews with surviving Kenyans and colonial officials, that part of the Hola prison was used as a prison camp for those Mau Mau insurgents who refused to take their oath or their membership of the movement to revoke. The prisoners there were systematically abused physically and mentally in order to break their will.

Political Consequences

After the results of the investigation were published, the opposition initiated a debate in the House of Commons . Increasing negative publicity and calls for further investigations into human rights violations in the camps led the British government to curtail its support for the administration of the Kenya colony and accelerate the road to Kenya's independence.

The public debate prompted the UK government to take action to improve the deteriorating image of the UK. The colonial prison camps in Kenya were closed and prisoners were released soon after. In this context, attempts were also made to protect British interests in Africa without the use of force, which indirectly led to an acceleration of the independence of the British colonies in Africa.

The colonial government changed the name from Hola to Galole to dampen memories of the massacre. In 1971 President Kenyatta reversed this decision after meeting a large delegation from Tana River . Since then, the place has been known as Hola again.

It was only in 2013 that the British government reached an agreement with representatives of the victims' associations on comprehensive compensation for injustices committed by the British colonial government during the Mau Mau uprising. A total of £ 20 million in compensation was reported .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mark Curtis: Web Of Deceit: Britain's Real Foreign Policy . Vintage, 2003, ISBN 978-0-09-944839-6 , pp. 327 .
  2. ↑ Wunyabari O. Maloba: Mau Mau and Kenya: An Analysis of a Peasant Revolt . In: University Press of Florida (Ed.): Journal of Third World Studies . tape 19 , no. 1 , 2002, p. 227-229 , JSTOR : 45194027 .
  3. ^ Horrors of Hola detention camp. In: The Daily Nation. April 22, 2004, accessed August 27, 2021 .
  4. ^ East African Standard , March 5, 1959, p. 1.
  5. ↑ Rose Wild: The Times on the Mau Mau deaths cover-up . April 4, 2011. The Times, London
  6. ^ A b Robbie Bolton: Mau Mau - Kuririkana - Gitene. In: University of Michigan. December 12, 2004, archived from the original ; accessed on August 29, 2021 (English).
  7. ^ New York Times . March 23, 1959. p. 2
  8. ↑ The Hola Scandal. In: Time Magazine. June 8, 1959, archived from the original ; accessed on August 29, 2021 (English).
  9. ↑ Caroline Elkins: Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya . Ed .: Henry Holt, Jonathan Cape. 2005, ISBN 0-8050-8001-5 , pp. 344-353 .
  10. ↑ HOLA CAMP, KENYA (REPORT). House of Commons Debates vol 610. In: Hansard . House of Commons, June 27, 1959, pp. 181-262 , accessed August 29, 2021 .
  11. ^ Mau Mau trial: imperial amnesia. In: The Guardian. October 5, 2012, accessed August 29, 2021 .
  12. ↑ Kikuyu hammered on the Anvil. In: The Daily Nation. April 15, 2004, accessed August 29, 2021 .
  13. ↑ Ritchie Ovendale: Macmillan and the wind of change in Africa, 1957-1960 . In: The Historical Journal . tape 38 , no. 2 . Cambridge University Press, June 1995, pp. 455-477 , doi : 10.1017 / S0018246X00019506 .
  14. ↑ Mau Mau torture victims to receive compensation - Hague. In: BBC. June 6, 2013, accessed August 29, 2021 .