#ovaherero genocide foundation

[garadinervi]

«"Ich der große General der Deutschen Soldaten..", Abschrift», Der Krieg gegen die Herero 1904, Bundesarchiv, Coblenza

«Am 2. Oktober 1904 erließ General von Trotha den sogenannten "Schießbefehl". In einem Brief an die Herero fordert er das Volk auf, Deutsch-Südwestafrika zu verlassen. Auf seine Kapitäne wurde ein Kopfgeld ausgesetzt. Der General kündigt an, dass jeder Herero, der auf deutschem Gebiet angetroffen würde, erschossen werde. Auch auf Frauen und Kinder werde er schießen lassen. Den an die Schutztruppe gerichteten Befehl formulierte von Trotha mit Blick auf den "guten Ruf" der deutschen Soldaten davon abweichend: Über "Weiber und Kinder" solle "hinweggeschossen" werden, "um sie zum Laufen zu zwingen".» – Bundesarchiv

Lothar von Trotha, 1904 October 2nd, Ozombu-zovindimba «I, the great general of the German soldiers, send this letter to the Hereros. The Hereros are German subjects no longer. They have killed, stolen, cut off the ears and other parts of the body of wounded soldiers, and now are too cowardly to want to fight any longer. I announce to the people that whoever hands me one of the chiefs shall receive 1,000 marks, and 5,000 marks for Samuel Maherero. The Herero nation must now leave the country. If it refuses, I shall compel it to do so with the ‘long tube’ (cannon). Any Herero found inside the German frontier, with or without a gun or cattle, will be executed. I shall spare neither women nor children. I shall give the order to drive them away and fire on them. Such are my words to the Herero people. I assume absolutely that this proclamation will result in taking no more male prisoners, but will not degenerate into atrocities against women and children. The latter will run away if one shoots at them a couple of times. The troops will remain conscious of the good reputation of the German soldier.» – Ovaherero Genocide Foundation

[sa7abnews]

Namibian genocide victims' descendants feel betrayed by Germany

New Post has been published on https://sa7ab.info/2024/08/11/namibian-genocide-victims-descendants-feel-betrayed-by-germany/

Namibian genocide victims' descendants feel betrayed by Germany

In late June, Namibia announced that starting in 2025, June 28 will be a public holiday to commemorate a 19th century German genocide against the Nama and Ovaherero (also Herero) peoples.

Namibia’s Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah meanwhile announced the creation of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) dedicated to the descendants of the Nama and Herero tribes which will oversee the allocation and use of German funds earmarked for reconstruction and reconciliation programs for affected communities, according to Bloomberg. 

Nandi-Ndaitwah appealed to traditional leaders invited to her consultations to not raise expectations of re-negotiations with Germany over reparations, but some tribal leaders told The New Arab they were excluded from the meeting convened in June.

“The VP’s office has chosen not to invite the Ovaherero Traditional Authority under my leadership, which represents the greater majority of the Ovaherero people in Namibia and those in the diaspora,” Ovaherero Paramount Chief Prof. Mutjinde Katjiua told The New Arab.

“This has been the modus operandi of our government ever since 2015 when they started engaging the German Government on the Ovaherero and Nama genocide. We have always been excluded,” he added.

During German colonial rule in Namibia, an estimated 65,000 of the 80,000 Herero (approximately 75% of their population at the time) and at least 10,000 out of 20,000 Nama (50% of the population) were killed. 

Germany, like many former colonial powers, argues that the 1948 UN Convention on Genocide does not apply retroactively to events predating 1946, thus attempting to sidestep full liability.

In 2021, Germany agreed to grant €1.1 billion to the Namibian government for reconciliation projects, and the newly announced SPV is part of that process.

Despite this offer, the Nama and Herero consider these projects inadequate substitutes for proper reparations, especially given the loss of their ancestral lands to German settlers.

While recent moves by Nambia and Germany have aimed to address ongoing grievances stemming from the brutal campaigns by the German Empire between 1904 and 1908, which Germany officially recognized as a genocide in 2015, the lack of legally binding reparations continues to fuel frustration among the Nama and Herero, who say their key demands remain unmet.

These demands were laid out clearly in 2006, but Prof. Mutjinde Katjiua accuses the Namibian government of having abandoned an agreement made on this issue on 26 October, 2006, which called for direct negotiations between Germany and the affected communities.The agreement is based on a resolution that requested the National Assembly, through the government to tell the German government that the atrocities committed against the Ovaherero and Nama peoples during her colonial rule in this country constituted the crime of “genocide” as per the UN Convention.

Therefore, it requested the German government to pay reparations to the victims,  the victims in this case being the Ovaherero and the Nama peoples who were singled out for extermination. Finally, the resolution demands a dialogue between, on the one hand, the German government and on the other hand the victims, and that the Namibian government shall be an interested party.

Chairperson of the Ovaherero Genocide Foundation (OGF), Nandiuasora Mazeingo, meanwhile expressed skepticism about Germany’s acknowledgment of the genocide.

“The statement by the Vice-President of Namibia is filled with mistruths, including that Germany has acknowledged genocide—a blatant lie. Germany still uses qualifiers in her official text in reference to her so-called acknowledgment.”

Mazeingo emphasized that reparations should not be replaced by developmental aid such as the SPV, which grants the perpetrator undue power in his view.

“In this case, a former colonial power with a dominant economy in geopolitics dictates terms of when it elects to give what and to whom, excluding us, the targeted communities of Ovaherero and Nama tribes, from such processes of defining our own justice.”

Katjiua said that the Namibian government had abandoned that agreement and was now engaging with the government of Germany itself without them. The only way forward is to reopen negotiations directly with the Germans.

“Our government has chosen to abandon this and rather elected to have a bilateral process limited to the two governments. For as long as we are not part of the trilogy, we deem these so-called negotiations as a false start and which must be restarted afresh. Needless to say, as we often do, it cannot be about us, without us.”

The New Arab has reached out to the governments of Namibia and Germany for comment but did not receive a response from the Namibian government by the time of publication. 

A spokesperson of the German Federal Foreign Office told The New Arab: “From the very beginning of the reconciliation talks, the German and Namibian governments were in agreement that representatives of the Herero and Nama communities must be included in the negotiation process. Hence, the Namibian government involved representatives of the Nama and Herero throughout the dialogue process. A so-called “Technical Committee” with descendants of the victims is participating directly in the talks with the German government. Also, an association of traditional authorities and royal families, the so-called Chiefs Forum, was consulted. As far as the German government is aware, Herero and Nama groups who hold a different view on the Joint Declaration and have decided not to participate in the negotiation process are still expressly invited by the Namibian negotiating team to actively contribute to the process.”

[beardedmrbean]

The German government has not said much publicly in recent months about the reconciliation process between Germany and Namibia.

Six years ago, both governments entered into negotiations about a formal German apology for the colonial-era killings of tens of thousands of the Herero and Nama people in what was once Germany South-West Africa. Historians describe it as the first genocide of the 20th century.

 Negotiators agreed on a draft agreement in May 2021, but neither government has yet signed. Right from the start, the document drew loud criticism from politicians and some descendants of the victims, who demanded fresh talks.

No fresh talks

However, the German government has now officially rejected these demands. "From the German government's point of view, the negotiations for the joined declaration with Namibia have been finalized, even though talks about specific modalities of its implementation are continuing," the government wrote in response to written questions submitted by Sevim Dagdelen, a Member of Germany's federal parliament from the aocialist Left Party.

"It is a sign of arrogance that the German government simply ignores the massive criticism from Namibia's parliament and the outrage of the descendants of the victims and leaves Namibia to deal with it," Dagdelen told DW.

A number of Herero and Nama representatives are likely to agree. In December, they had requested a meeting with Germany's foreign minister Annalena Baerbock to push for direct negotiations. They are angry that Germany is only ready to accept political, but not legal responsibility for the genocide.

They also criticize the €1.1 billion ($1.1 billion) rebuilding and development program that Germany is proposing to finance over 30 years. "That is development cooperation. This is about financing projects and infrastructure, which is ok. But this deal does not get to the heart of the matter, it is not about justice and reconciliation," Nama activist Sima Luipert told German news magazine Der Spiegel in June this year.

Hereros and Namas are divided

Other community representatives, however, have rejected demands for fresh talks. "Protocol wise I don't think that a foreign government can enter into negotiations leading to an agreement with the citizens of a foreign country. Hence, reopening of the negotiation on genocide ... will not be accepted by our government, all OvaHerero, OvaMbanderu and Nama communities", Ueriuka Tjikuua, a community representative who participated in the negotiations process, told DW.

Despite the controversy surrounding the draft agreement, the German government is already taking steps toward its implementation. This year's federal budget includes €35 million for development projects and €4 million for a foundation that is supposed to keep the memory of the genocide alive. Both sums are part of the €1.1 billion package.

A spokeswoman for Germany's Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development told DW that the development projects would target the descendants of the victims. They cover areas such as land reform, agriculture, water, energy supply, and vocational training.

Development projects are underway

However, it is still unclear when the projects will be up and running. "These plans can only be implemented once the two foreign ministers have signed the joined declaration," the spokeswoman said. The ministry did not provide specific information on the state of implementation but told DW that it was in constant dialogue with the Namibian government.

The Namibian government's present position on the draft agreement is also unclear.

Angry Herero and Namas took the capital Windhoek after the negotiations were concluded in May last year. A parliamentary debate about the agreement in September 2021 was also accompanied by loud protests. The mood inside the chamber was equally emotional: Angry opposition members blasted the outcome of the negotiations, with even some MPs from the ruling SWAPO party voicing concern. So far, the government has not put the agreement to a vote in the national assembly.

"The fact that the government withdrew and also did not schedule another debate about it clearly shows how uneasy it feels, because it realized that it won't be easy," German-Namibian scholar Henning Melber told DW.

No vote in Germany's parliament?

The German government, however, has tried to remain confident. "The Namibian government is sticking to the draft of the joined declaration even after the controversial debate in the Namibian national assembly," it wrote in its response to the parliamentary questions by the Left Party.

Germany's lower parliament, the Bundestag, does not plan to vote on the agreement at all.

"It is correct that the fully negotiated joined declaration is not an agreement under international law and does not require ratification by the German Bundestag," the government wrote.

MP Dagdelen is not happy with this position. "Politically, it is more than appropriate that parliament deals with such a historic declaration, even if it is not necessary from a legal point of view," she told DW.

However, whether German politicians get to vote on the agreement or not may be decided thousands of miles away. Namibia is scheduled to go to the polls in November 2024. Faced with declining popularity, the Namibian government is likely to avoid anything that could generate public anger in the run-up to elections. That could mean the joint declaration with Germany will have to wait.

[thorstenstrasas]

About 200 joined the annual march for "remembrance of the African victims of enslavement, trade with enslaved people, colonial occupation and racist violence". The march took place for the eleventh time.

The date was determined after the last day of the "Congo conference" in Berlin from November, 15th 1884 to February, 26th 1885.

The activists called to rename streets with racist names (as the Mohrenstrasse) They also urged to return holy objects and mortal remains from German museums to their African owners.

The march was joined by MP Öczan Mutlu (Greens) and the member of the parliament of Berlin Susanna Kahlefeld (Greens). So Dr. Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana, Germany's first city council with African origin held a speech.

Honorable guests were Ida Hoffman, chairwoman of the Nama Genocide Technical Committee, Esther Muinjangue, chairwoman of the Ovaherero / Ovambanderu Genocide Foundation (OGF) and Doudou Diène, political scientist from Senegal and former UN special correspondent for racism, xenophobia and discrimination.

02/25/2017.

[ankeschwarzer]

Entschuldigung im Kaisersaal

Eine Konferenz in Hamburg befasste sich mit dem Genozid in »Deutsch-Südwest« 

Anke Schwarzer | Jungle World, 12.04.2018  [pdf]

Ein Kongress beleuchtete Anfang April 2018 Hamburgs Rolle beim deutschen Völkermord an den Ovaherero und Nama. Erstmals wurden dabei Nachfahren der Überlebenden von offizieller Seite empfangen.

Sie knien, die Köpfe gesenkt, vor einem Podest. Darauf befindet sich ein Schädel, auf den das Wort »Herero« eingraviert ist. Die Gruppe von Ovaherero aus Namibia und den USA schweigt. Dann spricht Mbakumua Hengari einige Gedenkworte auf Otjiherero. Er ist Mitglied der Ovaherero Genocide Foundation Namibia (OGF). Nach der Zeremonie im Raum der Stille des Universitätsklinikums Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) verhüllt Philipp Osten den Schädel. Der Leiter des Instituts für Geschichte und Ethik der Medizin am UKE setzt sich für die Rückführung menschlicher Überreste aus ehemaligen Kolonien ein. Das Museum sei kein angemessener Ort für diese Gebeine, sagt er. Wahrscheinlich war der Schädel aus einem Todeslager in der damaligen Kolonie Deutsch-Südwest ins Deutsche Reich geschafft worden. Etwa 20 Vertreter von Ovaherero- und Nama-Verbänden aus Namibia, Botswana und den USA waren vergangene Woche zum Kongress »Koloniales Vergessen: Quo vadis, Hamburg?« angereist. Sie fordern immer noch eine offizielle Anerkennung des Völkermords an den Ovaherero und Nama, den das Deutsche Reich zwischen 1904 und 1908 im heutigen Namibia beging, durch die Bundesrepublik. Sie erwarten eine Entschuldigung und Entschädigung. Vor allem aber wollen sie direkt an Verhandlungen beteiligt werden. Es war – nach einer Veranstaltung 2016 in Berlin – die zweite Tagung dieser Art. Dieses Mal ging es auch um die Rolle der Stadt Hamburg beim Genozid. Josephine Akinyosoye begrüßte im Namen der Veranstalterin, der Initiative Schwarze Menschen in Deutschland (ISD), die Ovaherero- und Nama-Delegationen. »Ihre Perspektive ist für die postkoloniale Aufarbeitung von zentraler Bedeutung«, sagte sie. Verschiedenen Einzelpersonen und Gruppen wie etwa der Arbeitskreis »Hamburg Postkolonial«, das Nama Genocide Technical Committee, das Ovaherero, Mbanderu and Nama Genocides Institute und die Association of the Ovaherero Genocide in the USA (AOG) hatten den Kongress organisiert.

Die beiden Veranstaltungsorte sind eng mit der deutschen Kolonialgeschichte verbunden: Das Veranstaltungsschiff MS Stubnitz ankert im Baakenhafen. Von dort legten in der Kolonialzeit die Dampfschiffe der Woermann-Linie Richtung Deutsch-Südwestafrika ab, an Bord unter anderem: kaiserliche »Schutztruppen«, die die Ovaherero und Nama bekämpfen sollten, die sich gegen die Besetzung des Landes, Ausbeutung und Vergewaltigungen wehrten. Allein in den ersten 18 Monaten des Kriegs, der im Januar 1904 begann, wurden in Hamburg 665 Offiziere, 196 Beamte, 14 000 Soldaten und 12 000 Pferde eingeschifft. Ladebäume hievten Maschinengewehre und Funkanlagen, Soldaten leiteten masurische Kavalleriepferde auf Rampen in den Bauch der Linienschiffe. Die Fahrt führte dann nach Swakopmund. Der zweite Veranstaltungsort war die Universität, die vor 100 Jahren aus dem Kolonialinstitut hervorgegangen war. »Als Hafen- und Handelsstadt hat Hamburg eine Schlüsselrolle in der kolonialen Vergangenheit des deutschen Kaiserreichs und damit auch bei dem Völkermord im damaligen Deutsch-Südwestafrika gespielt«, sagte Kultursenator Carsten Brosda (SPD) in der vergangenen Woche beim Senatsempfang im Rathaus. »Ich kann Sie nur um Vergebung bitten«, richtete er sich an die Vertreter der Ovaherero- und Nama-Verbände und Nama-Chief Moses Kooper. Sie sind die Nachfahren der wenigen Überlebenden des ersten Völkermords des 20. Jahrhunderts. Die Nama nennen ihn !Gam-#Wi, die Ovaherero bezeichnen ihn mit dem Wort Otjindjandja. Die deutschen Kolonialtruppen töteten vor 114 Jahren etwa die Hälfte der Nama-Bevölkerung und etwa 80 Prozent der Ovaherero. Die Überlebenden wurden enteignet, interniert und zu Zwangsarbeit herangezogen. Zahlreiche Gebeine wurden ins Deutsche Reich geschafft, wo sie weiterhin in den Kellern von Krankenhäusern und Museen liegen.

Die Delegationen bewerteten die Tage in Hamburg als »historisch«. Im vergangenen Jahr seien sie wiederholt nach Deutschland gereist, aber von offiziellen Stellen nie eingeladen worden, so Esther Utjiua Muinjangue, Vorsitzende der OGF. Die Organisatoren der Konferenz hatten ein Besuchsprogramm gestaltet, das bei einigen Institutionen der Stadt Hamburg auf Interesse gestoßen war. Das Völkerkundemuseum etwa lud zu einer kurzen Besichtigung von Kolonialfotografien ein. Die neue Direktorin Barbara Plankensteiner versicherte – allerdings ohne konkret zu werden –, dass die Vertreter der Verbände, darunter Lehrer und Wissenschaftler, an der weiteren Erforschung der etwa 1 700 Objekte aus Namibia beteiligt würden. Im UKE wurde den Delegationen zum ersten Mal ein angemessenes Gedenken gestattet, zudem entschuldigte sich der Dekan der medizinischen Fakultät für den bisherigen Umgang mit den Gebeinen. Und schließlich gab es einen Senatsempfang im Rathaus. Eine repräsentative Einladung staatlicher Institutionen hatten die Vertreter der Verbände in den Jahren zuvor weder in Hamburg noch in Berlin erhalten. Insofern war es ein Empfang auf der bislang höchsten politischen Ebene. Dass er ausgerechnet im Kaisersaal stattfand, benannt nach dem für den Völkermord verantwortlichen Kaiser Wilhelm II., war nur ein kleiner Wermutstropfen. Für Diskussionen sorgte die überraschende Entschuldigung des Kultursenators. Während manche Vertreter der Verbände sich anerkennend äußerten, blieben andere skeptisch. Schließlich war nicht ersichtlich, für wen der Kultursenator in dem Moment überhaupt sprach. Vor allen Dingen aber erwarte man eine Entschuldigung auf Bundesebene, so einige Beteiligte. Darüber hinaus habe man auf einen offenen Brief an den Ersten Bürgermeister der Stadt vom Januar 2017 nie eine Reaktion erhalten, sagte ein Vertreter der AOG. Auch an der darin kritisierten Ehrung von Kolonialverbrechern wie dem Reeder Adolph Woermann und dem General Lothar von Trotha mit Straßennamen und Denkmälern sowie der einseitigen Ehrung von Hamburger Kolonialsoldaten auf einer Gedenktafel im Michel sei nichts geändert worden. So hat die Delegation die Entschuldigung zwar angenommen. Doch es gilt weiterhin, was Ngondi Kamatuka, Erziehungswissenschaftler und Vorstand der AOG, sagte: »Worte sind Worte und Taten sind lauter als Worte. Wir warten auf sie.«

Fotos: Anke Schwarzer

Foto 1: Vertreter der Ovaherero- und Nama-Verbände aus den USA und Namibia zeigen auf das »Trotha-Haus« in Hamburg, heute ein Studentenwohnheim der Bundeswehruniversität Hamburg. General von Trotha (Schriftzug oben) hatte den Vernichtungsbefehl ausgegeben.

Foto 2: Vertreter der Ovaherero- und Nama-Verbände aus den USA und Namibia auf dem Weg zum Senatsempfang im Hamburger Rathaus, darunter  Mbakumua Hengari und  Esther Utjiua Muinjangue (beide Ovaherero Genocide Foundation Namibia, OGF) und Nama-Chief Moses Kooper.