La Namibia a contrassegnare il genocidio coloniale tedesco per la prima volta con Memorial Day
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0jkynyln2o
di ThatBlackGuy_
La Namibia a contrassegnare il genocidio coloniale tedesco per la prima volta con Memorial Day
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0jkynyln2o
di ThatBlackGuy_
11 commenti
* Dubbed “Germany’s forgotten genocide”, and described by historians as the first genocide of the 20th Century, the systematic murder of more than 70,000 Africans is being marked with a national day of remembrance for the first time in Namibia.
* Almost 40 years before their use in the Holocaust, concentration camps and pseudoscientific experiments were used by German officials to torture and kill people in what was then called South West Africa.
* The victims, primarily from the Ovaherero and Nama communities, were targeted because they refused to let the colonisers take their land and cattle.
* Genocide Remembrance Day in Namibia on Wednesday follows years of pressure on Germany to pay reparations.
* This new, national holiday is “a symbol of unity and reflection” but the country will never forget its “emotional, psychological, economical and cultural scars”, said Namibia’s President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, joining community leaders in a candle-lighting ceremony in memory of genocide victims.
* Members of the Ovaherero and Nama communities also performed a war cry – a rite that was historically performed by men before battle while women urged them to fight bravely.
* For many years Germany did not publicly acknowledge the mass slaughter that took place between 1904 and 1908.
* But four years ago it formally recognised that German colonisers had committed the genocide, and offered €1.1bn (£940m; $1.34bn) in development aid to be paid out over 30 years – with no mention of “reparations” or “compensation” in the legal wording.
* Many Namibians were not impressed by what they saw.
* “That was the joke of the century,” [Uahimisa Kaapehi told the BBC at the time](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-57961151). “We want our land. Money is nothing.”
* Since then [a draft deal has been reached between the two nations ](https://www.nbcnews.na/node/108793)that would include a formal apology given by Germany, and which [would reportedly increase the overall sum by an extra €50m](https://www.dandc.eu/en/article/germany-and-namibias-joint-declaration-regarding-genocide-former-colony-south-west-africa).
* Historians point out the irony of Germany hitherto refusing to pay reparations, because prior to the genocide, [Germany itself extracted its own so-called reparations from Ovaherero and Nama people](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-57961151) who had fought back against the colonisers.
* Last year, Namibia criticised Germany after it offered to come to Israel’s defence to stop it answering a case for crimes of genocide in Gaza at the UN’s top court.
It’s about time we begin our recognition of the atrocities caused by our colonial phases. Those times left a lasting mark on the world but we ignore it.
We need to recognize our crimes
Oh, please. People always have their hands out, looking to get paid for something they didn’t experience, and demanding the payment from people who had no involvement in it at all. It’s been over a hundred years, get the fuck over it.
They should go ask the family of the last emperor
This genocide inevitably spread a precedent and inspired the Nazis to replicate it against the jews.
This genocide killed 80% of the Herero population and 50% of the Nama population, all because they dared to fight against colonialism.
The Germany genocide in Namibia happened over a century ago. It was recognized, admitted, and moved on from. All that’s left is to remember it happened.
Russia’s genocides continue every single day.
To show how much Germany has learned from its previous genocides, it’s participating in another one in Palestine
The Country is called Deutsch-Südwestafrika.
This is a very sensitive topic and also kind of a philosophical question. However, with all respect, I don’t think it is fair to demand reparations for something that happened over 100 years ago. Germans in 2025 have absolutely no guilt whatsoever for what happened then. If every group of people whose ancestors were wronged by Europeans at one point were demanding reparations, we’d probably all go broke very quickly.
There are also a couple of open questions here. They want Germany to buy the land from the colonisers descendants and give it back to them, at least that is how I understand it. How is that going to work? I imagine that these land owners would be asking for a very, very inflated price for said land. Then, if Germany would buy that land and hand it over, these people would be very rich afterwards and potentially be able to buy the land back from the new owners for an actual realistic price. How will that be prevented? Furthermore, I doubt that many Namibians would be excited about the then former land owners being “rewarded” with mountains of German money for the land their ancestors stole.
I believe a good compromise would be for Germany and Namibia to cooperate on certain projects that benefit both. I think Germany funding the building of a proper memorial in Namibia and/or Berlin would also be fair. Also, it would be great if Germany gave back all the artworks that were stolen at the time (if there are any left).
Here before the genocide apologists and revisionists infest this thread and spew their insidious ideology…