Genocidal empires : : German colonialism in Africa and the Third Reich / / Klaus Bachmann.

• Superior document: Geschichte - Erinnerung - Politik ; Band 21 = Studies in history, memory and politics ; Volume 21
• VerfasserIn: Bachmann, Klaus, 1963-
• Place / Publishing House: Berlin : : Peter Lang,, [2018]; ©2018
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Series: Geschichte, Erinnerung, Politik ; Band 21.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (386 pages).

Between 1904 and 1907, German soldiers, settlers and mercenaries committed mass murder in Africa. Can this be considered the first genocide of the 20th century? Was it a forecast of the Third Reich’s extermination policy in Central and Eastern Europe? This book provides the answer. Based on extensive archival and library research in Tanzania, Namibia, South Africa, Germany and Poland as well as on the most recent and up-to-date jurisprudence of international criminal tribunals, the renowned historian and political scientist Klaus Bachmann paints a new and surprising picture of the events and their legal significance, which many will find disturbing and provocative. It abolishes many well-established interpretations about German colonialism and its alleged links with the Third Reich and provides a new and intriguing contribution to the current post-colonial debate.

Table of Contents

Introduction: German South-West Africa 1904-1907-the exception to German colonial rule -- The genocide that did not take place -- The causes of war -- The policy shift in 1904 -- The genocide that did take place -- The war against the Nama -- The camps -- The deportations -- The consequences of Germany's colonial policy in Namibia -- Germany's colonial policy in the light of international criminal law -- The evolution of the genocide concept in international criminal law -- Genocide without genocidal intent? -- Was quelling the Herero uprising genocide? -- Destroying the Herero and Nama as ethnic groups -- The responsibility of superiors and peers -- How ICL sheds new light on other cases of extreme colonial violence in the German empire -- Genocide in German East Africa? -- The case of the Bushmen -- From Africa to Auschwitz, from Windhuk to the Holocaust? -- Institutional continuity between the Kaiserreich's colonial bureaucracy and the Third Reich -- Continuity of informal knowledge -- Elite continuity between German South-West Africa and the Third Reich -- From Berlin to Cape Town and Windhoek -- The Auslandsorganisation Der NSDAP -- The failure of the Auslandsorganisation in South-West Africa -- Higher stakes: South Africa -- Operation weissdorn -- Patterns of extreme violence in the German colonies and German-occupied central and eastern Europe -- An early version of apartheid?