What's that glistening in the desert sand? The package in the doghouse. How to launder illegal diamonds. Drifting sand, schnapps and rats. Thieme's last hour. Who wouldn't want to get closer to the narrator who announces his story with one of these headlines?
These are just five of the stories in the book "Ein Karat zu Zwanzig Mark" (One Carat for Twenty Marks, available in German only), which was recently presented in Windhoek and in Swakopmund.
The book revolves around the discovery and mining of diamonds in the southern Namib Desert near Kolmanskop (see also article on Wikipedia) near Lüderitz. "True stories from the diamond rush in German South West Africa 1908-1914, told by contemporary witness Max Ewald Baericke," promises the book cover (see also the German text on Nelao Verlag website).
This is a new edition of a book published in 2007, which quickly sold out. Delia Magg-Thesenvitz, a sociologist from Germany who lives in Namibia, has revised it and added a historical overview.
She has also added many historical photos that show not only the German diamond prospectors, but also the workers who were employed in the search and extraction.
It is thanks to such a worker that diamonds were discovered on the railway line near Kolmanskop, close to Lüderitz. None of the Germans there would ever have expected to find these precious stones in this location, even in their wildest dreams. Nor had they been discovered during the construction of the railway.
Railway worker Zacharias Lewala, who had worked in diamond mining near Kimberley in the British Cape Colony, was the first to stumble upon a diamond in 1908. He gave it to the supervisor of the section of track, August Stauch, who had its authenticity verified in a laboratory and then attained fabulous wealth.
But easy come, easy go: he lost almost his entire fortune in the economic crisis of 1929. Around the same time, diamond mining at Kolmanskuppe was discontinued. Over the decades, the desert reclaimed the site. Wind and sand moved into the decaying houses.
This fairy-tale-like yet tragic story is also told in the book 'Ein Karat zu Zwanzig Mark' (One Carat for Twenty Marks). It can be found on the shelves of the Curio Shop in Kolmanskop, as well as in bookshops throughout Namibia.
The abandoned diamond settlement of Kolmanskop is one of Namibia's top 10 attractions. Some of the buildings have been lovingly restored, including the casino, which also served as a gymnasium.
The casino also houses the 'Kolmanskop Diamond Room', where you can admire and purchase genuine diamonds – authentic Namibian diamonds (see report of Namibian.org). Mined by the Namibian company Namdeb, traded by the Namibian agency Namdia and refined by the Dash Diamonds cutting facility in Windhoek.
Their authenticity is guaranteed by a GIA certificate. The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) is the world's leading authority on diamonds and coloured gemstones.
Sven-Eric Stender