Göring 's first action was to gain a ' protection treaty ' with the leading Herero chief , Maharero . The treaty of protection was n't worth the paper it was written on , as Göring was in no position to offer assistance . Repeated , successful armed attacks by the Nama clan of Hendrik Witbooi proved the point . The treaty was torn up a few years later anyway by Mahrero , who also expelled Göring from Hereroland : the behaviour of the Germans had become too much and , worst of all , Göring had — perhaps unwittingly — extended his house on top of a Herero ancestral graveyard . The gold rush was a hoax , however , for the purported gold deposits were nothing apart from the remains of gold pieces fired at a rock face . The identity of the hoaxer remains a mystery , but suspicion falls on Göring making a last-ditch , desperate attempt to bring investment into the protectorate , and thus save his failing mission . The expected vast gold deposits started a gold rush of German settlers and investors into South West Africa , whose behaviour further alienated the Herero . This eventually led to the Herero and Namaqua genocide . Herero skulls were eventually used by the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology , Human Heredity , and Eugenics , pursuing a policy of eugenics
Herero and Namaqua genocide
Herero and Namaqua genocide
Heinrich Ernst Göring