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Germany admits committing "genocide" in Namibia during colonial era

2021-05-30T13:02:28.198Z


Through its Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas, Germany admitted this Friday for the first time to have committed


Germany for the first time admitted this Friday to have committed "genocide" against the populations of Herero and Namas in Namibia during the colonial era.

It will also pay the country a sum of more than one billion euros in development aid.

Tens of thousands of Hereros and Namas were killed by German settlers in massacres perpetrated between 1904 and 1908. Many historians consider them to be the first genocide of the twentieth century. ”SThe head of German diplomacy hails in this declaration the conclusion of an "agreement" with Namibia after more than five years of bitter negotiations on the events of this African territory which was colonized by its country between 1884 and 1915.

Tens of thousands of Hereros and Namas were killed by German settlers in massacres perpetrated between 1904 and 1908. Many historians consider them to be the first genocide of the twentieth century.

Reparations negotiations: German Pres Steinmeier to apologize before Namibia parliament for tragic Nama-Herero genocide of 1904 to 1908. Money to be paid toward Namibia's infrastructure, healthcare, job training;

particularly in affected communities.

https://t.co/oQbAs94cc6 pic.twitter.com/L9eIZvGb0M

- James Hall (@hallaboutafrica) May 24, 2021

A financial program of 1.1 billion euros

“In the light of the historical and moral responsibility of Germany, we will ask forgiveness from Namibia and the descendants of the victims” for the “atrocities”, continues Heiko Maas.

The minister adds that in a "gesture of recognition of the immense suffering inflicted on the victims", Germany will support "reconstruction and development" in Namibia via a financial program of 1.1 billion euros.

However, he specifies that it is not a question of compensation on a legal basis and that this recognition does not open the way to any “legal request for compensation”.

According to sources close to the negotiations, this sum will be paid over a period of 30 years and must primarily benefit the descendants of these two populations.

Relations between the two countries have been poisoned for many years by crimes committed during colonization.

“We cannot draw a line on the past.

Recognizing one's fault and asking for forgiveness, however, is an important step in overcoming the past and building the future together, ”says Heiko Maas.

In a desire for reconciliation, in 2019 Germany had handed over to Namibia the bones of members of the exterminated Herero and Nama tribes, and the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Michelle Müntefering, had then asked "forgiveness from the bottom of her heart" .

A gesture deemed insufficient by their descendants and the Namibian authorities who demanded an official apology and reparations.

Germany had repeatedly opposed this, citing the millions of development aid that had been disbursed to Namibia since its independence in 1990.

Genocidal techniques

If the work of memory in Germany on the Nazi period is generally considered exemplary, that on the colonial period in Africa, of the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, was neglected for a long time.

Today, the Herero tribes represent 7% of the Namibian population against 40% at the beginning of the 20th century.

While they were deprived of their land and their cattle, they revolted in 1904 against the German settlers, killing around 100 among them.

German General Lothar von Trotha had been sent to quell the rebellion.

He then ordered their extermination.

A year later, the Namas had risen up and suffered the same fate.

In total, between 1904 and 1908, at least 60,000 Herero and approximately 10,000 Nama were killed.

German forces had employed genocidal techniques: mass killings, exile in the desert where thousands of men, women and children died of thirst, and concentration camps like the infamous one on Shark Island.

Bones, in particular the skulls of the victims, had been sent to Germany for racial scientific experiments. Physician Eugen Fischer, who served on Shark Island and whose writings influenced Adolf Hitler, sought to prove "the superiority of the white race."

Source: leparis

All news articles on 2021-05-30

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