An estimated amount of 10 million Congolese people were killed
An American missionary recollects the nature of forced rubber labor, “‘…The soldiers drive people into the bush. If they will not go they are shot down, and their left hands cut off and taken as trophies to the commisaire [agent]…’” (Smith 2000, 61) This quote evidently shows that the agents were brutal towards the Congolese. They act as if the Congolese are misbehaving animals, when in reality; the Congolese people only want to live their life in peace and escape the horrors of King Leopold’s workmen. Many of the Congolese people died from the intense labor or the brutality; One story of the horrific brutality is that two men were punished by getting whipped with hippo – hide (chicotte), and then were pelted with bricks until their death. An affidavit describes, “The white men are so afraid of the soldiers that they let them do whatever they like. They rape, murder, and steal everything of the inhabitants, and if the Chief or villagers object, they are often shot dead on the spot…”(Morel 1905, 211) The quote above is evidence that the soldiers, or Le Force Publique, have so much power, that they think it is okay to kill innocent people who do not like the fact that men are ordering them around. This was a common thought back then, that the Natives’ feelings and opinions do not count, and that the soldiers do not care for their lives because they were heartless men brainwashed by a terrible king.
This graph reveals the different amount of casualties for various genocides. Notice how the Congo lost the second greatest amount of people, after the Holocaust in Germany.
There were various brutal ways that the Congolese were killed.
The Belgian Officials and Le Force Publique got very creative with their deaths. They would...
Stuff as many men as they could into a net, tie a heavy rock to it, and drown the men.
Decapitation: they also brought heads of prisoners or innocent people as trophies to their commanders.
Ignite dead or still living bodies.
Hanging men.
Beating them to death with a chicotte.
Ripping someone's intestines out.
Learn what was happening in Belgium and Europe at this time.