Atrocities against the indigenous African population by the German colonial empire can be dated to the earliest German settlements on the continent . The German colonial authorities carried out genocide in German South-West Africa ( GSWA ) and the survivors were incarcerated in concentration camps . It was also reported that , between 1885 and 1918 , the indigenous population of Togo , German East Africa ( GEA ) and the Cameroons suffered from various human rights abuses including starvation from scorched earth tactics and forced relocation for use as labour . The German Empire 's action in GSWA against the Herero tribe is considered by Howard Ball to be the first genocide of the 20th century . After the Herero , Namaqua and Damara began an uprising against the colonial government , General Lothar von Trotha , appointed as head of the German forces in GSWA by Emperor Wilhelm II in 1904 , gave the order for the German forces to push them into the desert where they would die . In 2004 , the German state apologised for the genocide . While many argue that the military campaign in Tanzania to suppress the Maji Maji Rebellion in GEA between 1905 and 1907 was not an act of genocide , as the military did not have as an intentional goal the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Africans , according to Dominik J. Schaller , the statement released at the time by Governor Gustav Adolf von Götzen did not exculpate him from the charge of genocide , but was proof that the German administration knew that their scorched earth methods would result in famine . It is estimated that 200,000 Africans died from famine with some areas completely and permanently devoid of human life
Atrocities against the indigenous African population
Herero and Namaqua genocide
Genocide of indigenous peoples