Oberstleutnant Theodor Leutwein (1849 - 1921)

Theodor Gotthilf Leutwein, born 9 May 1849, came from the Neckar-Odenwald district. Leutwein studied law in Freiburg for two semesters. In 1868, he joined the 113th Division of the 5th Baden Infantry Regiment as a cadet, later rising to the rank of Lieutenant in 1869. In December 1893, Leutwein was tasked with ending the ongoing war between the Schutztruppen (German Protection Forces) and the local ethnic groups in the colonial protectorate of South West Africa (present-day Namibia). He was made head of the provincial government in 1895 and became Commander-in-Chief of the Protection Force there in 1897. Leutwein was appointed Governor of German Southwest Africa on 18 April 1898. Between 1894 and 1904, Leutwein’s troops were engaged in ongoing conflicts with the insurgent local population, in particular the Herero and Nama peoples. The insurgency considerably strained German colonial forces there, resulting ultimately in Leutwein being replaced by Lieutenant General Lothar von Trotha. Leutwein subsequently retired, left the colony and returned to Germany. He died on 13 April 1921 in Freiburg.