Slavery in 1964
Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2002 2:15 pm
Mit Sklaven Unterwegs
By Gordian Troeller
(translated from Der Stern,(Hamburg), 5 April 1964)
I have seen them and spoken to them. Slaves, men and women who belong to other people as though they were domestic animals. Children, who can be separated from their parents, like dogs or cats, merely because they come into the world as slaves, the property of the owners of their parents. I met them in Saudi Arabia, in the Yemen, in Africa and in Iran.... They are sold, sometimes openly, and shipped secretly for forced labor or for pleasure.
It is true that there are scarcely any parts of the Arabian Peninsula where slavery or slave dealing is legal. Even Saudi Arabia abolished it in 1962 officially, on paper. But in fact ... oil interests and expanding business have raised the prices for both traders and clients. The new high prices in turn make the risks worth while to the trader. Ten years ago a healthy male slave delivered to Arabia cost about a thousand marks, now he can be sold for five, or even ten, times as much. But this makes the trader and his accomplices even more cautious. Not only is it difficult, but it is even dangerous to poke one's nose into their business.
... English travelers have been sent out of Morocco because of their too open interest in the slave trade. An American actually managed to get into Mecca, the sacred city of Islam, where no Christian is allowed. He wanted to photograph the market where the black slaves are sold. He was discovered and torn to pieces. The list of those expelled, imprisoned or murdered simply because they were on the tracks of slave dealers is unknown. Thus do some pay the price for their humanitarian efforts - and others for their curiosity. But the majority pay because they look for sensations which can be bought on an entertainment market just as black flesh is sold on the slave markets of Saudi Arabia.
...It should be indicated that these slaves come from the new African states: from lands which are members of the United Nations who have signed the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights - who call themselves progressive, and who cannot or will not put an end to that most shameful of all crimes, the trade in women and children.
Officially slavery has been forbidden for a long time, but all the same "Black Ivory" from Nigeria, Mali, Mauritania, Congo and Ethiopia and many other states is brought through the Sudan, Somalia or Kenya to the great interchange markets for Saudi Arabia, the Yemen and the Sultans of the South Arabian Federation. A little less black are the wares that come from the Middle East. Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan abolished slavery in the twenties. But they have not yet been able to stop completely the seizure and sale of human beings. Slaves are brought secretly to the coast of Iran (the Persian Gulf) from there to be transported to Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain. I have accompanied such a slave caravan. It was in Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf - formerly Bandar Abbas was one of the trading centers of the world.
... I have made a film there and collected statistics. The women, who did not fide their faces behind veils but behind black masks, were easy to win with a little gold. It was more difficult with young men, and quite impossible with children. One young twelve-year-old became quite hysterical when I asked his father's permission to take a few shots of his son. We sat on the shore while young Ali played about. When we were agreed the father called him and explained to him that he could go with me. Ali looked at this father's hand in which money already lay that I had given him. I have never seen such deep emotion as I saw on that child's face. Step by step the child drew back, his eyes fixed on the money, then he turned tail and fled. "Ali, it's only a couple of hours," called the father. "He wants to sell me," cried the child, and he hurled himself along the shore. Some fisherman stood in his way and we also ran after him. When he saw himself surrounded he plunged into the sea. He wept with his mouth open and swallowed so much water that he was exhausted and we were able to stop him before he reached the deeper water where there were sharks. As soon as I had him he screamed wildly and tried to free himself. "Go away quickly," said the father, "as long as he sees you he will not be calmed."
I learned later that Ali had been a slave. His father had sold him out of necessity. He was without work, the family starving, his wife ill. For some days they had eaten nothing when a man came to their hut and offered a thousand marks for Ali. To save the family of nine the offer was accepted. Even Ali agreed. He was the eldest of the family and felt his responsibility. Proudly he left the house and everything went well till he reached Oman. There he was put in a tent with seven other boys of the same age who also had been brought from Iran. At night they had to keep the guards company and thus were prepared for the job arranged for them when they should be sold and this Ali took all in good part. In his own country it is much the same, men even marry each other with fantastic and extravagant ceremonies.
But one day, when two other companions in grief were brought to the tent, panic broke out. Both boys had been castrated. Ali and his friends were beaten and put in chains until they were calm again; but the fear that this might be his fate also haunted Ali and he thought of nothing but escape. He succeeded and hid himself in a ship at Dubai that sailed to the harbor of Bandar e Lengeh. From there he walked home, nearly 200 kilometers. When he reached home he collapsed. His own mother was dead buy Ali was nursed back to health with the help of the money that his father had received from his sale.
[The article continues with a description of women who had been purchased to serve as prostitutes and a carpet and slave-buying expedition during which only one ten-year-old boy was purchased.]
[I know that there have been many other articles on slavery and eunuchs in the German language popular press. Unfortunately, this is the only one that I have in my files. Members of the Archive are encouraged to submit additional materials to the Nonfiction Board in either German or in English translation. French, Spanish, Russian and other non-English language materials are also invited, though English translations are preferred for the widest possible audience here.]
By Gordian Troeller
(translated from Der Stern,(Hamburg), 5 April 1964)
I have seen them and spoken to them. Slaves, men and women who belong to other people as though they were domestic animals. Children, who can be separated from their parents, like dogs or cats, merely because they come into the world as slaves, the property of the owners of their parents. I met them in Saudi Arabia, in the Yemen, in Africa and in Iran.... They are sold, sometimes openly, and shipped secretly for forced labor or for pleasure.
It is true that there are scarcely any parts of the Arabian Peninsula where slavery or slave dealing is legal. Even Saudi Arabia abolished it in 1962 officially, on paper. But in fact ... oil interests and expanding business have raised the prices for both traders and clients. The new high prices in turn make the risks worth while to the trader. Ten years ago a healthy male slave delivered to Arabia cost about a thousand marks, now he can be sold for five, or even ten, times as much. But this makes the trader and his accomplices even more cautious. Not only is it difficult, but it is even dangerous to poke one's nose into their business.
... English travelers have been sent out of Morocco because of their too open interest in the slave trade. An American actually managed to get into Mecca, the sacred city of Islam, where no Christian is allowed. He wanted to photograph the market where the black slaves are sold. He was discovered and torn to pieces. The list of those expelled, imprisoned or murdered simply because they were on the tracks of slave dealers is unknown. Thus do some pay the price for their humanitarian efforts - and others for their curiosity. But the majority pay because they look for sensations which can be bought on an entertainment market just as black flesh is sold on the slave markets of Saudi Arabia.
...It should be indicated that these slaves come from the new African states: from lands which are members of the United Nations who have signed the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights - who call themselves progressive, and who cannot or will not put an end to that most shameful of all crimes, the trade in women and children.
Officially slavery has been forbidden for a long time, but all the same "Black Ivory" from Nigeria, Mali, Mauritania, Congo and Ethiopia and many other states is brought through the Sudan, Somalia or Kenya to the great interchange markets for Saudi Arabia, the Yemen and the Sultans of the South Arabian Federation. A little less black are the wares that come from the Middle East. Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan abolished slavery in the twenties. But they have not yet been able to stop completely the seizure and sale of human beings. Slaves are brought secretly to the coast of Iran (the Persian Gulf) from there to be transported to Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain. I have accompanied such a slave caravan. It was in Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf - formerly Bandar Abbas was one of the trading centers of the world.
... I have made a film there and collected statistics. The women, who did not fide their faces behind veils but behind black masks, were easy to win with a little gold. It was more difficult with young men, and quite impossible with children. One young twelve-year-old became quite hysterical when I asked his father's permission to take a few shots of his son. We sat on the shore while young Ali played about. When we were agreed the father called him and explained to him that he could go with me. Ali looked at this father's hand in which money already lay that I had given him. I have never seen such deep emotion as I saw on that child's face. Step by step the child drew back, his eyes fixed on the money, then he turned tail and fled. "Ali, it's only a couple of hours," called the father. "He wants to sell me," cried the child, and he hurled himself along the shore. Some fisherman stood in his way and we also ran after him. When he saw himself surrounded he plunged into the sea. He wept with his mouth open and swallowed so much water that he was exhausted and we were able to stop him before he reached the deeper water where there were sharks. As soon as I had him he screamed wildly and tried to free himself. "Go away quickly," said the father, "as long as he sees you he will not be calmed."
I learned later that Ali had been a slave. His father had sold him out of necessity. He was without work, the family starving, his wife ill. For some days they had eaten nothing when a man came to their hut and offered a thousand marks for Ali. To save the family of nine the offer was accepted. Even Ali agreed. He was the eldest of the family and felt his responsibility. Proudly he left the house and everything went well till he reached Oman. There he was put in a tent with seven other boys of the same age who also had been brought from Iran. At night they had to keep the guards company and thus were prepared for the job arranged for them when they should be sold and this Ali took all in good part. In his own country it is much the same, men even marry each other with fantastic and extravagant ceremonies.
But one day, when two other companions in grief were brought to the tent, panic broke out. Both boys had been castrated. Ali and his friends were beaten and put in chains until they were calm again; but the fear that this might be his fate also haunted Ali and he thought of nothing but escape. He succeeded and hid himself in a ship at Dubai that sailed to the harbor of Bandar e Lengeh. From there he walked home, nearly 200 kilometers. When he reached home he collapsed. His own mother was dead buy Ali was nursed back to health with the help of the money that his father had received from his sale.
[The article continues with a description of women who had been purchased to serve as prostitutes and a carpet and slave-buying expedition during which only one ten-year-old boy was purchased.]
[I know that there have been many other articles on slavery and eunuchs in the German language popular press. Unfortunately, this is the only one that I have in my files. Members of the Archive are encouraged to submit additional materials to the Nonfiction Board in either German or in English translation. French, Spanish, Russian and other non-English language materials are also invited, though English translations are preferred for the widest possible audience here.]
