# Extermination Order Rescinded (6 December 1904)

URL: https://allhistories.com/namibia/timeline/1904-extermination-order-rescinded
Location: Berlin, Germany / Windhoek, Namibia
Themes: main-event

On 6 December 1904 the emperor withdrew the extermination order, after the chancellor appealed to him. In November the Chief of the General Staff had recommended rescinding it, doubting that the commander could achieve extermination or enslavement. The commander was reportedly enraged and initially refused to carry the change out. The government in Berlin had grown concerned by the financial and reputational costs of the war. Survivors were to be imprisoned as prisoners of war instead. Throughout 1905, Wikipedia says, soldiers still combed the countryside and committed violence and massacres, and surrender rates stayed low because word of mistreatment had spread. The decision opened the way to the camp system, with prisoners held in detention and used as forced labour. The General Staff's official history later said the Herero had "ceased to exist as a tribe". The sequence of an order issued on 2 October and withdrawn on 6 December remains central to scholarly debate about intent and responsibility. At this point in the timeline (1904), Theodor Leutwein (15 Mar 1894 – 19 Aug 1905) headed the German administration as Landeshauptmann and, from 1898, as Governor of the colony; Samuel Maharero (1890 – 1917) was Paramount Chief of the Herero.

## Why it matters
The withdrawal ended the formal order but led directly to mass detention and forced labour.

Ruler at the Time: [Theodor Leutwein](https://allhistories.com/namibia/rulers/theodor-leutwein-1894)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Herero and Nama genocide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herero_and_Nama_genocide)
- [Wikipedia — Lothar von Trotha](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lothar_von_Trotha)
- [Wikipedia — Herero Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herero_Wars)