Occupation of Bajor
The Occupation of Bajor (usually referred to simply as the Occupation) was a period from about 2319 to 2369 during which Bajor was under the control of the Cardassian Empire. During the Occupation, the Cardassians perpetrated a coordinated scheme of strip-mining, forced labor, and genocide across the planet. Their brutality led to the deaths of ten million Bajorans. This eventually gave rise to the fierce Bajoran Resistance, which used guerrilla and terror tactics.
The Cardassians eventually withdrew due to political pressure from the Federation, as well as the Resistance's constant attacks.
Contents
Prelude
Prior to the Occupation, the Bajorans were a peaceful people whose art and architecture were well-known and admired throughout the galaxy. The Cardassians, by contrast, were a militaristic, and often hostile people, who had conquered numerous planets, in the name of survival. The two peoples nonetheless managed to coexist peacefully for some time; however, the Cardassians coveted Bajor's rich natural resources and saw the Bajoran people as inferior. Cardassia became increasingly hostile towards Bajor as time went on, maintaining a military presence on the planet for ten years before forcibly annexing it in 2328. This caused little galactic outcry, as most major powers were unaware of Bajor's plight. Even the Federation was unable to interfere, as the Prime Directive forbade it: the occupation was considered an internal matter between Cardassia and a subject race.
As the Cardassians were technologically almost a century ahead of the Bajorans, there was no warfare leading to the Occupation: the peaceful Bajoran people surrendered with little resistance. The Cardassians installed the "Bajoran Occupational Government," essentially a puppet of the Cardassian Central Command, intended to make the occupation look legitimate. In order to keep the Bajorans in line, Central Command also installed a Prefect to oversee the planet.
Cardassian Rule
When the Occupation began, it was the end of life as the Bajoran people knew it. Their caste system, which had been an integral part of Bajoran culture for centuries, was abolished, as all Bajorans regardless of caste were called upon to struggle against Cardassian oppression. Their priests were forbidden to preach the word of the Bajoran Prophets, and many were imprisoned for doing so. Further, the Cardassians strip-mined the planet, using Bajoran slave labor to perform the task. The Secretary (and other officials of the occupational government) routinely approved work orders that forced Bajorans to mine ore. Among the Bajoran people, such acts of cowardice in the face of Cardassian rule gave way to a new term: for those who participated with the Cardassians, or used the Occupation as a source of profit were called "collaborators."
Not all Bajorans who profited from the Occupation were branded as collaborators, however. Some smugglers were admired for smuggling much-needed medical supplies to Bajor, and were able to operate with relative freedom in many cases, as most Cardassian officers would look the other way if paid enough. Part of the boom in black market dealings resulted from most external entities' refusal to sell to the Bajorans, out of fear of Cardassian reprisal, and a general belief that the Bajoran Resistance would fail. A notable exception to the rule were also weapons dealers, who believed that it didn't matter who was buying their weapons, as long as they were making a profit.
One of the ultimate goals for the Occupation, beyond strip-mining Bajor of its resources, was "full scale colonization" by Cardassian civilians. However, due to the persistent activity of the Bajoran resistance decade after decade, the planet was never sufficiently pacified. As the years dragged on, Cardassian Central Command grew frustrated, and simply wanted the problem resolved, with no regard for what "methods" local commanders on Bajor used. As a result, when a Bajoran was accused of a crime, their friends and family were often rounded up for questioning as well. In many cases, ensuring someone was punished was more important than finding the perpetrator of the crime.
The Cardassians also used Bajoran women as "comfort women." Bajorans were assigned occupations more or less arbitrarily during the Occupation. The most common jobs were mining ore and working in factories, and once assigned to a job, a Bajoran was forbidden from leaving it. However, Cardassian officers often "selected" Bajorans for random interrogations or forced relocation.
Any Bajoran with family or friends in the Bajoran Resistance was considered a suspect in criminal cases – which after 50 years of occupation was essentially all of Bajor. There was virtually no court system, only "special tribunals" consisting of Cardassian military leaders. In the vast majority of cases, the evidence was circumstantial and questionable. This was of little importance to the Cardassians, as long as someone was punished.
Labor Camps
The Cardassians interned entire families of Bajorans in labor camps for various purposes, the most common of which was to mine ore and other valuable resources. Conditions at these camps were so harsh that every Bajoran knew assignment to a labor camp was essentially a death sentence. The occupational government, however, continued to fulfill the Cardassians' requests for new laborers throughout the occupation.
Justification based on the "greater glory of Cardassia" led to workers at the labor camps often becoming subjects of morally unethical experimentation.
Terok Nor
In 2346, the Cardassians used Bajoran slave labor to build an orbital space station known as Terok Nor, which was virtually identical to many other Cardassian outposts. Much of this station was devoted to processing ore, which was the task to which most Bajorans there were assigned. Temperatures in the ore processing section sometimes reached as high as 55°C / 131°F. In addition to exhaustion, heatstroke became a common cause of Bajoran death. Deaths from such causes were seen as unfortunate, but acceptable losses, in the eyes of the Cardassian overseers.
Certain areas of Terok Nor were cordoned off as designated Bajoran areas. Most Bajorans were forced to live in overcrowded community quarters, but some of the more fortunate (mostly collaborators) were assigned their own. Even the holding cells were overcrowded, with as many as a dozen Bajorans filling cells built for two. A few Bajorans were allowed to earn a meager wage working for Quark, in his bar, which served the Cardassians. Those Bajorans in his employ had twelve-hour workdays with two five-minute breaks, for which they earned a single strip of latinum.
The Resistance
See main page: Bajoran Resistance
After years of Cardassian oppression, the Bajorans formed the Bajoran Resistance, a coordinated movement aiming to free Bajor from the occupation. It accomplished this goal with often indiscriminate bombings, as well as other terror tactics. They mostly relied on the element of surprise, as they knew direct conflict with the Cardassians would end disastrously. Some members managed to smuggle in sub-impulse starships, and his these ships on Bajor's various moons. The assassinations and bombings were enough to throw the Cardassians off balance, however, and also taught the Bajorans valuable skills they would later put to use when forming the Bajoran Militia.
Bajorans who helped the resistance but did not openly oppose the Cardassians were known as "informers." They were regarded with great respect, unlike "collaborators," who worked with the Cardassians. Every time the Resistance executed an attack, the Cardassians tightened their grip, and each time this happened, more Bajorans joined the cause.
It would take many years and many deaths, but eventually the Cardassians would be forced to leave Bajor.
Cardassian Withdrawal
After fifty years of occupation, the Cardassians withdrew from Bajor, but only under political pressure from the United Federation of Planets and other entities. However, the exact cause of the withdrawal is largely a matter of opinion: while the Bajorans attributed it to the efforts of the Bajoran Resistance, the Cardassians regarded it as an entirely political decision on their part. Regardless of the cause, all sides acknowledge that civilian leaders such as those on the Detapa Council made the decision, which was opposed by the Cardassian military.
Certain Cardassian leaders were not willing to wait for revenge. Gul Darhe'el, furious about the withdrawal, ordered his soldiers to slaughter their Bajoran subordinates. His intention was to kill every last Bajoran at his post, and while his actions were the exception rather than the rule, many Cardassian officers shared his sentiments. On Terok Nor, the Cardassians damaged as many of the space station's systems as they possibly could. They took every item of value, including all but a few photon torpedoes. The Bajoran Temple was badly damaged, as was the Promenade, where four Bajorans were killed trying to protect their shops. Cardassians even removed the beds from the quarters and took the replicators offline. Much of the looting was out of hatred toward the Bajorans, although it was standard Cardassian procedure to booby trap and sabotage abandoned outposts.
Many Cardassian children were left behind in the wake of the Occupation, since orphans had no status in Cardassian society.
The Bajorans opened their hearts to these so-called war orphans. A few were raised by elderly Bajoran couples, and taught to hate Cardassian "butchers."
Aftermath
After the Cardassian withdrawal, Bajor was in shambles and did not recover for many years. One of the first steps to recovery was the formation of the Bajoran Provisional Government, which was unstable at best. One of the few things virtually all Bajorans agreed upon was how to deal with those involved with the Occupation. A list of the most egregious Cardassian war criminals was assembled, and the individuals on the list were condemned to death, although in practice most were never apprehended. Additionally, another list of collaborators were sentenced to exile. Those who escaped detection spent the rest of their lives trying to ensure that their misdeeds remained secret.
Many Bajorans continued to fight against Cardassia even after the withdrawal, which exacerbated an already chaotic situation. The question of how to re-integrate prominent people from the Bajoran Resistance was particularly difficult, since they did commit crimes. As a result, many convicted Bajoran criminals were released from Bajoran prisons. Many Bajorans interned or imprisoned during the Occupation remained in Cardassian custody, despite a promise by Central Command to release all prisoners. Others were conveniently discovered and released only when the Central Command needed political leverage.
An uneasy alliance with the Federation complicated matters as Commander Sisko was assigned to the former Terok Nor, now renamed Deep Space 9. Attempting to balance Bajoran interests with those of the Federation, the Bajoran liason Major Kira Nerys felt that many Bajoran and Federation interests should be kept separate. A small faction of Bajorans also saw the Federation presence aboard DS9 as another form of occupation.
As far as the planet itself, the effects of various Cardassian experiments poisoned much of Bajor's once-fertile farmland. Farmers were devastated, and soil reclamators became a highly sought-after commodity. Two years after the Occupation's end, three million refugees fleeing from the Dominion wished to farm the land of Bajor's uninhabited Northwest Peninsula. However, while the peninsula would have been an ideal place to farm prior to the Occupation, the provisional government was forced to turn the refugees away, due to the toxicity of the soil and the plagues that had arisen on Bajor.
One of the Occupation's most insidious side effects was to cause many Bajorans to lose faith in the Prophets. Disenchanted Bajorans refused to believe their gods would sit idly by while the Occupation ravaged their planet, which led to the formation of the "Cult of the Pah-wraiths." The allure of the notion that the Pah-wraiths would bring about a "restoration" for Bajor was so great that even prominant religious leaders, who believed the Prophets had forsaken them, turned to the Pah-wraiths for spiritual guidance.
Post-occupation Relations
The Cardassians refused to acknowledge the events that transpired during the Occupation, instead using terms like "alleged improprieties" to describe them. Some Cardassians even believed that the Cardassian leaders themselves started rumors of brutality in order to keep the Bajorans thinking of themselves as victims. While most Cardassians remained bitter about the loss of Bajor, there were those who believed the two peoples could co-exist equally.
When the Bajorans and Cardassians finally established formal diplomatic relations, the Bajorans felt that they were entitled to war reparations for the damage incurred during the Occupation. A formal peace treaty between Cardassia and Bajor became known as the Bajoran-Cardassian Treaty. Even after the treaty was signed, relations between the two peoples were shaky at best. Seven years after the Occupation's end, Bajorans were still unwelcome on Cardassia Prime.
