The Land God Made in Anger. John Davis Gordon

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      ‘In a nutshell?’ Roger went to the bar in the corner and got two beers. ‘British colonial policy was to maintain the tribal structures and the natives’ rights as far as possible, as well as the authority of the chiefs. German policy was the opposite. It was to destroy the authority of the chiefs, to render the natives powerless so they could be press-ganged into labour and deprived of their land. It was even written in the Koloniale Zeitschrift …’ He reached for one of the books and leafed through it. ‘Here. This was written in the German press. Quote: “Our colonies are acquired, not for evangelization of the blacks, not for their well-being, but for ours. Whosoever hinders our object we must put out of the way”.’ He looked at McQuade. ‘That was German policy, in a nutshell. When the Hereros rebelled, General von Trotha arrived from Germany with nineteen thousand soldiers and his entire purpose was extermination. He slaughtered them in their scores of thousands. He drove them into the desert where they died of thirst and starvation in the thousands, while his soldiers gleefully picked them off. Only a few thousand survived, to struggle across the desert into British Bechuanaland. Finally there was an outcry in Germany against this inhumanity and von Trotha’s extermination order was cancelled.’ He shook his head. ‘They were the same in Tanganyika and Togoland and the Cameroons, and the result of their policies has always been ruin and chaos. Because of their extermination campaigns the Germans had no native labour! In 1898 the black population here was 300,000. Fourteen years later, in 1912, there were only 100,000 blacks! Two-thirds of the population slaughtered!’

      ‘Jesus.’

      Roger nodded. ‘So when the First World War broke out and South Africa occupied this territory, we came as liberators. At least we brought law and order and Native Commissioners to look after natives’ rights, et cetera.’

      McQuade’s schoolboy history was certainly sketchy. ‘And how did the Germans take it?’

      Roger snorted. ‘After the war, many South Africans immigrated up here, and the Germans were bitter. When local self-government was set up by South Africa, the legislative assembly was always divided: Germans against South Africans. The Germans wanted to run it their way, but the South Africans wanted the country to become another province of South Africa. Then …’ Roger held up a finger again … ‘Herr Adolf Hitler came along …’

      He got up and went back to his bookshelves. He plucked out three volumes.

      ‘You must read Germany’s African Claims. Published by the Daily Telegraph in the 1930s. And this, Nazi Activities in South West Africa, published by the Friends of Europe. But the most important book of all,’ he held it up, ‘is Hitler Over Africa, by Benjamin Bennett.’

      McQuade was all attention. Roger drained his mug. He was beginning to get along with the beer. He got out two more.

      ‘Hitler came to power on the massive wave of German bitterness after their defeat in the First World War. They had been humiliated, forced to pay reparations for the war costs, and stripped of their colonies. Germany was bankrupt. Hitler came along with his Brown Shirts and started whipping up the good old German martial spirit. “We demand that the unjust Treaty of Versailles be scrapped! We demand our Lebensraum, space for expansion! It was international Jewish money which waged the war against us! The Jews – the Jews!” And we know what happened to the Jews. The same that happened to the Hereros. The German Solution …’ He sighed. ‘Anyway, the Germans in South West Africa and Tanganyika loved all this rhetoric … They loved Hitler’s shouting. They were smarting under South African rule. And Hitler was bellowing that the former German colonies had to be returned to Germany, to provide Lebensraum and raw materials to rebuild her economy which had been bled white by international Jewry. And Hitler’s bully-boys were running around kicking the living shit out of any German who disagreed. Remember?’

      McQuade nodded. Roger continued:

      ‘Hitler and his Nazis created a tyranny – before they were even elected as the government – and they intimidated the rest of Europe as well. The Germans were on the march again, rattling their sabres and singing “Tomorrow Belongs to Me …” And all the time demanding their African colonies back. Then …’ Roger held up his finger again, ‘Hitler was elected the Chancellor of Germany. And within weeks German democracy ceased to exist. Within weeks Hitler had suspended the German parliament, the Nazi Party became Germany and Adolf Hitler became the Nazi Party. Absolute dictator.’

      Roger leant across the bar at him. ‘But even before Hitler came to power the Nazi Party had formed branches here and in Tanganyika! Bullying, just as in Germany. They set up cells across this country ruling the German community with a rod of iron. They kept dossiers on everybody, and any uncooperative German was reported to Berlin and the SS took reprisals against their relatives in Germany.’ He waved his hand. ‘They set up their own courts, circumventing the local courts, and a vast local Hitler Youth, with the Ordeal of Fire ritual – kids leaping over flames to cleanse and harden themselves for the Führer. Taking the oath of undying loyalty to the Führer.’ Roger snorted. ‘Of course, the South African government banned the Nazi Party – these Germans were legally British subjects, because South Africa was the legal government, and owed allegiance to the King of England. So it was unlawful to swear allegiance to Hitler.’ He shook his head. ‘The Nazis respected no such niceties. The Hitler Youth changed their name to the Pathfinders and sent local Germans to Berlin to undergo training courses in preparation for the day when Hitler would retake the place.’ He shook his head. ‘Most Germans here were caught up in this fever. Every day they huddled around the radios listening to the propaganda bellowed from Berlin, listening for the joyful news of the day of liberation. “Der Tag” they called it, The Day, and they went around warning the South Africans to watch their step. “Nobody can stop our Führer!”’ Roger smiled grimly. ‘They were bloody nearly right, weren’t they?’

      McQuade’s mind was working ahead. ‘And?’

      ‘The Berlin Colonial Office – and remember that since Germany didn’t have any colonies, how the hell did they have the nerve to have a “Colonial Office” – anyway, they even published a celebrated map of how Africa was going to look after Hitler had got their colonies back. Did you know that?’

      The door bell rang. The first dinner guest had arrived. Roger stood up. He pointed at the books.

      ‘It’s all in there. It was an improved version of the Kaiser’s plan, but, in short, it was South Africa Hitler was after and from there the whole of Africa would crumble under the German might, with its vast reservoirs of raw materials and black slave labour to build the Thousand Year Reich.’ He jabbed his finger again. ‘That was his plan.’

      Roger left to go to the front door. McQuade stared out the window.

8

      It was dark when McQuade got back to his house in Fifth Street, It was three days since he had been home and he was in dire need of a shower. He unlocked the peeling front door. Something scraped across the floor. It was a bulky brown envelope, which had been pushed through his letter box.

      His name on it had been typed: McQuade. No initial, no Mr. He tore it open. Inside was a book.

      It was The Hoax of the Twentieth Century. The very same book he had been reading that afternoon, which denied that the Holocaust had taken place. He looked inside. Passages had been underlined throughout. McQuade stared across the room.

      Who had sent him this, and typed his surname only? It was insulting, СКАЧАТЬ