Africans in GR

[Hartwin Alfred Gebhardt]

Nick Spencer writes:

> Over the last couple of months I've been trying to track down historical 
> sources for the presence of transplanted Herero in Nazi Germany - with 
> absolutely no luck.  

I have always asumed that this part of GR was made up - but it's the 
kind of thing that somehow _sounds_ true beyond the usual truths....

>                                     There is a general dearth of writings on the 
> treament of blacks by the Germans; some references to the Rhineland 
> mulattoes, and the occasional hint that blacks may have been incarcerated 
> in concentration camps, but nothing very substantial.  Anybody got any 
> info on this?  

In Namibia (Sudwest), two great revolts ocurred against the German 
occupation. The Herero revolt resulted in 80% genocide, the Nama 
(Hottentott) revolt in 50+%. After the war, remaining prisoners were 
incarcerated in concentration camps (modelled on concentration camps 
invented by the British and used against Boers in the 1900/1901 war). 
Hardly any prisoners survived. Especially the Herero massacres are 
now seen as Holocaust trial-runs. Check Tim Ware's web guides for 
more info.

>                  Was Dora supposed to have black inmates? Is the presence 
> of Hereroes in Nazi Germany a pure invention on Pynchon's part?  If this 
> is so, then I think it reinforces the idea that GR is, in part, an 
> allegory of racial identity in the USA (which would certainly correlate 
> with the idea that the concluding sections on LA's freeways are crucial, 
> Watts being passed over and all that).

A good and potentially very interesting reading, I think - certainly worth 
some more work. How about it?

hg
hag at iafrica.com