"On January
12, the German government announced its intention to support Israel in the
Palestinian genocide case brought by the Republic of South Africa (SAR) at the
International Court of Justice (ICJ). In its accusations, the SAR claimed that
Israel's current war in the Gaza Strip violates the United Nations Genocide
Convention.
Therefore,
Germany expressed its desire to intervene in the case as a third party
(according to Article 63 of the ICJ Statute) and resolutely rejected the
accusations of the PAR, calling it a "political instrumentalization of the
Genocide Convention that has no factual basis."
This naturally
provoked a sharp reaction from Namibian President Hage Geingob. Soc. on the X
network, he "expressed great concern at Germany's shocking decision"
and accused it of failing to learn from its history.
"Germany
cannot morally commit to the UN Genocide Convention, including atonement for
the genocide in Namibia, while supporting the equivalent of the Holocaust and
the genocide in Gaza." The answer was not long in coming.
"We reject
the historical comparison between the Holocaust and the actions in Gaza,"
emphasized the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Christian
Wagner. He was supported by Christian Democratic Party member Anette
Widmann-Mauz, who told Deutsche Welle: "our history obliges us to assume a
special responsibility, so Germany must support Israel."
However, the
President of Namibia gave Germany a painful sting, accusing it of the first of
20th century execution of genocide. And while many German politicians are
annoyed by this, Bundestag member Sevima Dagdelena thinks otherwise. She does
not blame Namibia for the criticism. "The direct insult of the German
government by dismissing South Africa's actual complaint is an example of
Western ignorance and the arrogance of neo-colonialism," she told DW.
The politician,
who for years campaigned for Germany to recognize its colonial crimes, now says
that the validity of the case is determined by the ICJ, not the German Foreign
Ministry. Namibia has always expressed solidarity with the Palestinians because
it has a similar history. "If there is oppression, colonization or
imperialist tendencies, the Namibian government tends to publicize it,"
says Rakkel Andreas, a Namibian political analyst.
Chancellor of the newly created German Empire, Ott von Bismarck, convened an
international conference in Berlin in 1884 November
15. Representatives of 13 European countries
(except Switzerland), the United States and the Ottoman Empire sat around the
horseshoe-shaped table. In the background hung a huge map of Africa, which was
their destination. In the cartoons of the time, the delegates are depicted leaning
over the map and armed with rulers drawing the borders of the colonies, hardly
imagining who lives in those lands.
But this is a
myth! In reality, there was no scrambling or map-drawing. But the conference
did something much worse, the consequences of which are still being felt today.
It laid down the rules for the conquest and partition of Africa, legitimizing
the idea of Africa as a playground for foreigners and the expropriation of its
natural resources. American journalist Daniel De Leon described the conference
as "a unique event in political history... Outwardly diplomatic, but
actually economic."
This is how
colonialism prevailed in almost all of Africa (up to 1902, 90%). Over the
course of several decades, the German Empire subdued the present-day states of
Burundi, Cameroon, Namibia, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Togo. However, the principle
of effective occupation stated that the government can acquire the right in
colonies only in two cases: when it physically owns colonies or carries out effective
occupation (concludes contracts with local leaders, establishes an
administration).
Germany hastened
to take advantage of this, because in Africa they were only engaged in
missionary activities among the Herera, Nama, Damara and Sana tribes. The
breakthrough occurred in May, 1883, when businessman Adolf Lüderitz bought a
stretch of beach from Joseph Frederiks II, chief of the Nama tribe. Three
months later, the commander sold him another 140 km, between the Orange River
and Angra Pequenos Bay. In this way, the German acquired the rights to a
strategically important natural harbor and named the area Lüderitzland.
However, the
treaty was fraudulent because the holding included "20 geographical
miles" (1 German mile = 7.5 km), a term the commander was unaware of. In
other words, the German got three times more area than agreed. Later, the
protectorate of the German Empire (German South-West Africa) was established
here.
It was the only
German overseas territory suitable for Europeans to live in, although there was
a constant simmering of tribal disputes. In 1885 October 21 Herer leader
Maherero signed a protection agreement with the head of the colonies, Heinrich
Ernst Goering (father of the Nazi leader Herman Goering). And in 1890 The
Treaty of Heligoland-Zanzibar (with the British) gave Germany access to the
Zambezi River. So it acquired more and more lands, almost without interfering
in ethnic conflicts.
The rapid expansion forced the tribes to resist, so in
1895 Berlin sent the Schutztruppe (engl. protection force) to protect German
interests in the region and suppress rebellions against the administration.
The newcomers
imagined an "African Germany" dominated by whites, and the natives
driven to reservations. The authorities openly encouraged the confiscation of
tribal lands, livestock, and the enslavement of people. In addition, racial
tensions prevailed. Blacks were nicknamed "baboons" and women were
considered concubines who could be sexually exploited by Europeans in the
practice of "Verkafferung".
In 1912
intermarriage is prohibited in German colonies to limit the number of
"degenerate Europeans". One missionary wrote: “The settlers are of
the opinion that the natives have a right to exist only in so far as they are
useful to the whites. This feeling encouraged the settlers to commit violence
against the Herero."
This is
illustrated by the "Dietrich case" (1903), when a farmer tried to
rape and shot the daughter-in-law of the Herera chief, but the court acquitted
him. Hereland then debated "do whites have the right to shoot local
women?" After Governor Theodore Leutwein intervened, the verdict was
appealed and this time Dietrich was found guilty. This angered the settlers,
who called the governor a "race traitor".
5 thousand
settlers owned 250 thousand locals in 1900.
However, the
Herero uprising was sparked by the construction of the railway and a new
financial reform. Until 1903 the Herers had already transferred a quarter of
their 130,000 square kilometers to the Germans of their territory, so when they heard
that the new Otavi railway line, which was supposed to go from the coast to the
settlements, would divide their lands, they got angry. After its completion, a
new wave of Europeans would flood the colonies. In addition, it was planned to
establish reservations.
In 1903 a new
debt collection policy has been enacted. The Hereras were used to borrowing
from the colonists at high interest rates. The debts have not been collected
for a long time, so the head of the colonies decided to cancel them. But in the
absence of cash, the merchants began to confiscate Herero cattle and valuables.
Thus it became clear that the government cares more about lenders than
borrowers.
So the Herers led
by Samuel Maharer revolted. In January 12, 1904 troops invaded Okahandja, one of
the largest German settlements, and massacred 120 settlers. Such a sight
shocked the German forces. The Herers were soon joined by a house led by
Hendrik Witbooi. The rebellion spread across the region, but despite initial
success, soon met with a German response.
T. Leutwein
managed to trap the Herer forces on the Waterberg Plateau and start
negotiations. But the slow progress disappointed Berlin, as the Kaiser saw the
uprising as a personal affront. So in May, Lieutenant General Lothar von
Trotha, who had recently suppressed the Chinese Boxer Rebellion, was appointed
as the head of the colonies. He immediately adopted aggressive tactics. 3-5
thousand of Herero fighters were killed during the Battle of Waterberg, while the
rest retreated to the Omahekê desert. The Schutztruppe was ordered to pursue the
fugitives. Thousands of Herero were shot, died of hunger, thirst or drinking
well water poisoned by the Germans.
L. von Trotha
called this kind of cruelty "the beginning of the racial struggle".
October 2 he issued a law: "Armed or unarmed Herer men caught on the
German border will be shot. I will return the women and children to the desert
or let them be shot." A month later, Berlin reversed the decision and
ordered the fugitives to be imprisoned in concentration camps.
In Namibia, the
Germans established five concentration camps, where those brought were divided
into two groups - fit for work or unfit for work. They were issued death
certificates in advance stating that the person "died of exhaustion".
This was not surprising, food rations (a handful of uncooked rice) were small,
unsanitary conditions, hard work and infectious diseases prevailed. Mortality
in the camps reached 45-74 percent. The most horrible place was in 1905
Africa's first "Death Camp" was established on Shark Island.
German political
scientist Henning Melber calls it the "Auschwitz of Africa",
following the model of which the Nazis later established similar camps in
Europe. The crisp weather made the island unsuitable for people accustomed to a
dry and hot climate. Nevertheless, the prisoners were used here for the
construction of the Lüderitz-Aus railway. The very name of the island caused
fear, so many Hereras killed themselves before being moved. But what was so
terrible about it?
Men were shot or
died of exhaustion. The fate of women was more tragic. They were raped, forced
to pull wagons with their bare hands or hanged naked from trees. According to
Sima Luipert, adviser to the Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA),
"camp authorities rented out women to companies or settlers who paid to
the administration of Germany”. This was the fate of S. Luipert's
great-grandmother, who was "rented" to a settler, suffered physical
and sexual violence and eventually became pregnant. Camp rider Percival
Griffith, interviewed by South Africa's Cape Argus, said: "The women were
hardly given anything to eat, and I saw them picking up other people's waste.
If she was caught, she would be whipped."
A sjambok (a
heavy leather whip made of hippopotamus or rhinoceros skin) was used for
punishments, with which, according to rider Johann Noothout, "pieces of
flesh that bounced off the body floated in the air." Mr Griffith recalled:
“I once saw a woman carrying a child on her back and a heavy sack of grain on
her head... she fell. The corporal beat her with a sjamboku for more than 4
minutes. Then she got up and left without saying a word, only the child cried a
lot." One of the first civilians to visit the camp, August Kuhlmann, was
shocked by the images: "a woman who was so weak due to illness that she
could not stand, was crawling around begging other prisoners for water. The
caretaker fired five shots at her ... she died during the night.' But that
wasn't the worst yet.
On the
"Island of Death" the Germans conducted medical experiments. They
were performed with people by dr. Hugo Bofinger. After coming to the medical
post, the bacteriologist secretly infected the scurvy-affected Herers with
tuberculosis, smallpox, typhus or injected them with arsenic. The effect of
substances on the body was studied by H. Bofinger during the autopsy. Not only
that, the heads of the dead were cut off and sent to the anatomical institute
in Berlin.
Before
transportation, women were told to cut heads of the corpses (often relatives, friends)
and shave their skin. Zoologist Leonhard Schultz said he had "obtained
body parts from fresh local corpses", which he said was a "welcome
addition". More than 300 skulls were collected and studied by prof. of
medicine and anthropology. Eugen Fischer (later a member of the Nazi Party).
Thus, hereras and names are used as raw material for eugenics (pseudo-science)
research to prove the supremacy of the white race.
According to H. Melber, "thousands of
skeletons are still stored in German museums and hospitals". Dead
prisoners useless for science were buried on the coast or thrown into the sea
to sharks. By 1908, when the "Death Camp" was closed, 80 percent had
been killed of hereres and 10 percent names (a total of 100,000 during the
period of colonialism). So historians compare it to the Holocaust.
No written orders
from Kaiser Wilhelm II concerning the massacres in Africa have survived. This is caused by the 1945 bombing of Berlin, when Allied aircraft destroyed a
building where Prussian documents were kept. However, the surviving fragments
show that L. von Trotha regularly sent reports to Berlin.
Therefore,
historian Jeremy-Sarkin Hughes believes that the Kaiser may have given him
verbal orders. The hypothesis is based on the fact that in 1905 November 2 the
general was awarded the Pour le Mérite in Africa, not convicted.
In addition,
Genocide historian Tonis Barta stated that the massacre of Herers inspired
Adolf Hitler to exterminate Jews and Roma. According to Ugandan anthropologist
Mahmood Mamdani, the links between the Hereri genocide and the Holocaust are
not limited to the politics of extermination and the establishment of
concentration camps, but have an ideological foundation.
This is evidenced
by L. von Trotha's phrase: "I destroy the African tribes with rivers of
blood... Only after this cleansing can something new emerge." Therefore,
the academician sees the similarity of the goals of the general and the Nazis,
based on the social Darwinist concept of "cleansing", after which
"something new will emerge". Unfortunately, the behavior of the
German Empire in Africa is still shadowed by Nazism.
The
discovery of diamonds in Namibia in 1908 made the colony an economic target. The
Germans quickly created a global diamond culture that lives on even today, as
the fashion for professing love to give a ring with this precious stone was
born. At the height of the trade, the German Empire controlled 30 percent
world diamond markets.
With the outbreak
of the Great War, the front shifted to Africa, where the Germans clashed with
the British in 1915. With the defeat of the Schutztruppe, South West Africa
became part of the British Empire. But even after changing the owners, the
Herera remained in the reservates, and the territory was managed according to the
system of racial segregation in force in South Africa. Namibia gained
independence in March 21, 1990.
The UN
Whitaker report called the Herera and Nama in 1985 massacres the first case of genocide
in the 20th century. 2011-2018 The Charité Museum of the History of Medicine
and the University of Freiburg returned some of the skulls, full of skeletons
and fragments of bones and skin, that had been kept in storage.
Although this is
only a small part of the remains of Africans kept in these institutions.
"Initiatives of Black People in Germany" by Jeannine Kantara in 2022
stated: "the repatriation of people who were murdered and abducted during
the German colonial period does not erase the crimes committed". Germany officially admitted in May 28, 2021
that it committed genocide in Namibia and
promised to pay 1.1 billion EUR over 30 years as compensation (for
infrastructure, health care, training programs).
However, the
descendants of the victims are not happy with the apology. Hamburg University
Prof. Jürgen Zimmerer is convinced that many people feel left out. "It is
a problem if reconciliation is sought," he said. - "But how to reconcile
with the victims, if they are pushed out of the process?" So the tribes
want a tripartite, but not a bilateral agreement.
In addition, they
want to receive the money themselves, not through institutions. For example,
Berlin's reparations to Israel amount to 80 billion. EUR, including 29 billion
euros paid directly to Holocaust victims and their relatives. However, Berlin
avoids applying this plan to the Herers.
"If we want
to be noticed," says S. Luipert, "Germany must sit down with us at
the common table." We will be like a mirror that Berlin is afraid to look
into because it will see its own deeds. The collective German psyche is not
ready for this."
This can also be
seen in the text of the declaration, where there is no word
"reparations" and the allocated funds are called "grant".
The wording suggests that "Germany is giving compensation voluntarily, not
compensating for damages," said lawyer Karina Theurer.
But why are
reparations feared? According to H. Melber, "the Germans committed crimes
throughout Europe during the war, so if they paid reparations to Namibia, it
would become a legal precedent for other countries to demand the same."
And where else is the return of confiscated Herero lands. Today, Namibian
Germans make up 2% of the country's population, but controls
70 percent of land. Not only do they not want to return it to the tribes, but they
deny even the very fact of genocide.
Signs of
colonialism abound in Namibia. In "Little Germany", as the Swakopmund
resort is called, there are German-style houses, monuments dedicated to the
"heroes" of colonialism and illuminated German signs. Many streets
have retained their old names, e.g. Wilhelm II, O. von Bismarck.
"This is how
the German community tries to preserve its heritage," says Norbert
Sadlowski, whose idealized copy of the Schutztruppe sculpture adorned the
capital city of Windhoek (until 2013) in the courtyard of his inn. Meanwhile,
the sites of the former "Death Camps" and the Herera graves scattered
in the desert receive little respect due to the indifference and corruption of
the Namibian government. So volunteers have to take care of the memory of the
"forgotten genocide"."
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