Herero and Nama genocide

Herero and Nama genocide
Part of Herero Wars
A photograph of chained Herero and Nama prisoners during the genocide
LocationGerman South West Africa
(modern-day Namibia)
Date1904–1908[1]
TargetHerero and Nama peoples
Attack type
Genocidal massacre, mass murder, starvation, concentration camps, human experimentation, extermination through labour, enslavement
Deaths
PerpetratorsLieutenant General Lothar von Trotha and the German colonial forces
MotiveCollective punishment, Settler colonialism, German imperialism, racism, revenge for rebellion against German authority

The Herero and Nama genocide or Namibian genocide,[5] formerly known also as the Herero and Namaqua genocide, was a campaign of ethnic extermination and collective punishment which was waged against the Herero (Ovaherero) and the Nama in German South West Africa (now Namibia) by the German Empire. It was the first genocide to begin in the 20th century,[6][7][8] occurring between 1904 and 1908.[1] In January 1904, the Herero people, who were led by Samuel Maharero, and the Nama people, who were led by Captain Hendrik Witbooi, rebelled against German colonial rule. On 12 January 1904, they killed more than 100 German settlers in the area of Okahandja.[9]

In August 1904, German General Lothar von Trotha defeated the Ovaherero in the Battle of Waterberg and drove them into the desert of Omaheke, where most of them died of dehydration. In October, the Nama people also rebelled against the Germans, only to suffer a similar fate. Between 24,000 and 100,000 Hereros and 10,000 Nama were killed in the genocide.[10] The first phase of the genocide was characterized by widespread death from starvation and dehydration, due to the prevention of the Herero from leaving the Namib desert by German forces. Once defeated, thousands of Hereros and Namas were imprisoned in concentration camps, where the majority died of diseases, abuse, and exhaustion.[11][12]

In 1985, the United Nations' Whitaker Report classified the aftermath as an attempt to exterminate the Herero and Nama peoples of South West Africa, and therefore one of the earliest attempts at genocide in the 20th century. In 2004, the German government recognised the events in what a German minister qualified as an "apology" but ruled out financial compensation for the victims' descendants.[13] In July 2015, the German government and the speaker of the Bundestag officially called the events a "genocide"; however, it refused to consider reparations at that time.[14][15] Despite this, the last batch of skulls and other remains of slaughtered tribesmen which were taken to Germany to promote racial superiority were taken back to Namibia in 2018, with Petra Bosse-Huber [de], a German Protestant bishop, describing the event as "the first genocide of the 20th century".[16][17]

In May 2021, the German government issued an official statement in which it said that Germany

"apologizes and bows before the descendants of the victims. Today, more than 100 years later, Germany asks for forgiveness for the sins of their forefathers. It is not possible to undo what has been done. But the suffering, inhumanity and pain inflicted on the tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children by Germany during the war in what is today Namibia must not be forgotten. It must serve as a warning against racism and genocide."[18]

Furthermore, the German government agreed to pay €1.1 billion over 30 years to fund projects in communities that were impacted by the genocide.[1]

  1. ^ a b c Oltermann, Philip (28 May 2021). "Germany agrees to pay Namibia €1.1bn over historical Herero-Nama genocide". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 June 2021. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  2. ^ Nuhn 1989.
  3. ^ Sarkin-Hughes 2008.
  4. ^ According to the 1985 United Nations Whitaker Report, some 65,000 Herero (80% of the total Herero population) and 10,000 Nana (50% of the total Nama population) were killed between 1904 and 1907.
  5. ^ Goldmann, Matthias (2024). "The ambiguity of colonial international law: Three approaches to the Namibian Genocide". Leiden Journal of International Law: 1–28. doi:10.1017/S0922156523000742.
  6. ^ Olusoga, David (18 April 2015). "Dear Pope Francis, Namibia was the 20th century's first genocide". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 18 November 2015. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
  7. ^ "Why Namibian chiefs are taking Germany to court". The Economist. 16 May 2017. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  8. ^ Steinhauser, Gabriele (28 July 2017). "Germany Confronts the Forgotten Story of Its Other Genocide". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 30 October 2023.
  9. ^ Reader, John (1997). Africa: A Biography. p. 588.
  10. ^ Nuhn (1989);[page needed] Schaller (2008), p. 296: "see his footnotes to German language sources citation #1 for Chapter 13."; Sarkin-Hughes (2008); Moses (2008);[page needed] Friedrichsmeyer, Lennox & Zantop (1998), p. 87; Baronian, Besser & Jansen (2007), p. 33
  11. ^ Gewald, J.B. (2000). "Colonization, Genocide, and Resurgence: The Herero of Namibia, 1890–1933". In Bollig, M.; Gewald, J.B. (eds.). People, Cattle and Land: Transformations of a Pastoral Society in Southwestern Africa. Köln, DEU: Köppe. pp. 167, 209. hdl:1887/4830. ISBN 978-3-89645-352-5.
  12. ^ Olusoga, David [unspecified role] (October 2004). Namibia – Genocide and the Second Reich. Real Genocides. BBC Four.
  13. ^ Lyons, Clare; et al. (14 August 2004). "Germany Admits Namibia Genocide". BBC News. Archived from the original on 1 July 2024. Retrieved 30 December 2016. 'Germany has offered its first formal apology for the colonial-era massacre of some 65,000 members of the Herero tribe by German troops in Namibia. (...) "We Germans accept our historic and moral responsibility," Ms Wieczorek-Zeul, Germany's Development Aid Minister, told a crowd of some 1,000 at the ceremony in Okokarara. "Germany has learnt the bitter lessons of the past." But after the minister's speech, the crowd repeated calls for an apology. "Everything I said in my speech was an apology for crimes committed under German colonial rule," she replied.'
  14. ^ Tejas, Aditya (9 July 2015). "German Official Says Namibia Herero Killings Were 'Genocide' and Part of 'Race War'". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 13 July 2015. Retrieved 13 July 2015.
  15. ^ Kollenbroich, Britta (13 July 2015). "Deutsche Kolonialverbrechen: Bundesregierung nennt Herero-Massaker erstmals "Völkermord"" [German colonial crimes: Federal government calls Herero massacre "genocide" for the first time]. Der Spiegel (in German). Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Archived from the original (Online) on 18 November 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  16. ^ "Germany returns skulls from colonial-era massacre to Namibia". Reuters. 29 August 2018. Archived from the original on 23 April 2020.
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference returnofremains was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ "Joint Declaration by the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Namibia "United in Remembrance of Our Colonial Past, United in Our Will to Reconcile, United in Our Vision of the Future"" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 February 2024.