Only in recent years has the history of European colonial concentration camps in Africa—in which thousands of prisoners died in appalling conditions—become widely known beyond a handful of specialists. Although they preceded the Third Reich by many decades, the camps’ newfound notoriety has led many to ask to what extent they anticipated the horrors of the Holocaust. Were they designed for mass killing, a misbegotten attempt at modernization, or something else entirely? A Sad Fiasco confronts this difficult question head-on, reconstructing the actions of colonial officials in both British South Africa and German South-West Africa as well as the experiences of internees to explore both the similarities and the divergences between the African camps and their Nazi-era successors.
List of Illustrations
List of Tables and Maps
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1. The Context: Colonial Wars in South Africa and South-West Africa
Chapter 2. The Purpose of the Camps
Chapter 3. How the Camps Functioned
Chapter 4. Deadly Learning? Observation and Knowledge Transfer
Chapter 5. Comparative Reflections on Colonial and National Socialist Camps
Final Observations: “A Sad Fiasco”
Bibliography
Index
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