Global InformationHerero and Nama genocide information
| Herero and Nama genocide | |
|---|---|
| Part of Herero Wars | |
 A photograph of chained Herero and Nama prisoners during the genocide | |
| Location | German South West Africa (modern-day Namibia) |
| Date | 1904–1908[1] |
| Target | Herero and Nama peoples |
Attack type | Genocidal massacre, starvation, concentration camps, human experimentation, extermination through labour |
| Deaths |
|
| Perpetrators | Lieutenant General Lothar von Trotha and the German colonial forces |
| Motive | Collective punishment, Settler colonialism, German imperialism |
The Herero and Nama genocide (formerly, also '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,[5][6][7] 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 January 12, they killed more than 100 German settlers in the area of Okahandja.[8]
In August, 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.[9] 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.[10][11]
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.[12] 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.[13][14] 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, a German Protestant bishop, describing the event as "the first genocide of the 20th century".[15][16]
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.”[17]
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]
- ^ a b c Oltermann, Philip (28 May 2021). "Germany agrees to pay Namibia €1.1bn over historical Herero-Nama genocide". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
- ^ Nuhn 1989.
- ^ Sarkin-Hughes 2008.
- ^ According to the 1985 United Nations Whitaker Report, some 65,000 Herero (80% of the total Herero population) and 10,000 Nama (50% of the total Nama population) were killed between 1904 and 1907.
- ^ Olusoga, David (2015-04-18). "Dear Pope Francis, Namibia was the 20th century's first genocide". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 November 2015.
- ^ "Why Namibian chiefs are taking Germany to court". The Economist. 2017-05-16. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
- ^ Steinhauser, Gabriele (28 July 2017). "Germany Confronts the Forgotten Story of Its Other Genocide". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ Reader, John (1997). Africa: A Biography. p. 588.
- ^ 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
- ^ 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.
- ^ Olusoga, David [unspecified role] (October 2004). Namibia – Genocide and the Second Reich. Real Genocides. BBC Four.
- ^ Lyons, Clare; et al. (August 14, 2004). "Germany Admits Namibia Genocide". BBC News. Retrieved December 30, 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.'
- ^ Tejas, Aditya (July 9, 2015). "German Official Says Namibia Herero Killings Were 'Genocide' and Part of 'Race War'". International Business Times. Retrieved July 13, 2015.
- ^ Kollenbroich, Britta (July 13, 2015). "Deutsche Kolonialverbrechen: Bundesregierung nennt Herero-Massaker erstmals "Völkermord"" [German colonial crimes: Federal government calls Herero massacre "genocide" for the first time] (Online). Der Spiegel (in German). Deutsche Presse-Agentur. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
- ^ "Germany returns skulls from colonial-era massacre to Namibia". Reuters. 29 August 2018. Archived from the original on 23 April 2020.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
returnofremainswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "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).