įrom early on, large numbers of Herero died in the camp, with 59 men, 59 women and 73 children reportedly dying by late May 1905. Operation Establishment Īlthough there are records of Herero prisoners-of-war being held in Lüderitz Bay as early as 1904, the first references to a camp at Shark Island and the transfer of large numbers of Herero prisoners from Keetmanshoop are in March 1905. Traditional rivalries prevented the Herero and Nama from joining together, however both groups continued fighting guerrilla warfare against the German colonial forces.įollowing the abandonment of Lothar von Trotha's policy of exterminating Herero within the borders of German South West Africa by denying them access to water holes, the colonial authorities adopted a policy of sweeping the bush clear of Herero – both civilians and rebels – and removing them, either voluntarily or by force, to concentration camps. Two months later, the Nama people broke out in a similar rebellion against German colonists. Over 15,000 German reinforcements under the command of Lothar Von Trotha defeated the Herero force at the Waterberg River in August 1904. When the Herero rebelled, they killed over 100 German settlers near the town of Okahandja. Factors such as loss of property, increasing debt in an attempt to resettle lost herds, low wages on white-owned farms, and racial inequalities only intensified the hostility between the Herero and the Germans. Origins of the Herero revolt date back to the 1890s when tribes settled in Namibia came under pressure from the growing number of German settlers wanting their land, cattle, and labor. On 12 January 1904, the Herero people rebelled against German colonial rule under the leadership of Samuel Maharero. Between 1,032 and 3,000 Herero and Namaqua men, women, and children died in the camp between March 1905 and its closing in April 1907. It was used by the German Empire during the Herero and Namaqua genocide of 1904–08. It was located on Shark Island off Lüderitz, in the far south-west of the territory which today is Namibia. Shark Island or 'Death Island' was one of five concentration camps in German South West Africa. Unknown (estimates range between 1,032 and 3,000)

Officially a prisoner of war camp, in reality a civilian internment camp, described by some as a death camp or even extermination camp Konzentrationslager auf der Haifischinsel vor Lüderitzbucht

Anomaly at shark island