Genocide of the OvaHerero and Nama - Places of Resistance and Remembrance – Germany | Namibia | USA
Themed tours
Kavemuii and Manal Murangi, Jephta Uaravaera Nguherimo, Anke Schwarzer, 2024
From 1884 to 1915, the German Empire was the colonial power in present-day Namibia. From the beginning, various population groups in different places fought against colonization and the expansion of their territories, while others attempted to come to terms with the colonial power. In January 1904, OvaHerero and OvaMbanderu groups defended themselves and resisted the theft of land and livestock, as well as the increasingly racist administration and judiciary. They raided several settler farms, killing around 140 German men but granting safe passage to the women and children. They also attacked the colonial infrastructure and destroyed railway facilities and telegraph poles.
Governor and Commander-in-Chief Lothar von Trotha ordered the extermination of the OvaHerero in October 1904 and, in April 1905, of the Nama, who had also joined the resistance at the end of 1904. Exact figures are unknown, but conservative estimates suggest that up to 80 percent of the OvaHerero and about half of the Nama were murdered in the genocide. Their land was expropriated by the colonial administration and then sold to German settlers. During this time, German colonial troops also committed massacres and atrocities against thousands of San and Damara.
Hamburg was and remains closely intertwined with this genocide: Hamburg companies and banks invested in colonial exploitation and profited from colonization. To this day, the city honors colonial criminals. At the same time, there are people who are committed to addressing the past, seeking apologies and reparations, and fighting for a dignified culture of remembrance. This article brings together some of these important places, initiatives, and events in Namibia, Hamburg, and the USA.
References:
Katjivena, Uazuvara Ewald: Mama Penee: Transcending the Genocide, 2020.
Kößler, Reinhart: Namibia and Germany. Negotiating the Past, 2015.
Nguherimo, Jephta U.: unBuried-unMarked: The unTold Namibian Story of the Genocide of 1904-1908: Pieces and Pains of the Struggle for Justice, 2019.
Schwarzer, Anke: [De]colonial memory practices in Germany’s public urban space. In: Capdepón, Ulrike / Dornhof, Sarah (Eds.): Contested Memory in Urban Space. Materiality, Traces and Monuments in Global Contexts, 2022.
Todzi, Kim Sebastian: Unternehmen Weltaneignung. Der Woermann-Konzern und der deutsche Kolonialismus, 1837-1916, 2023.
Zimmerer, Jürgen / Zeller, Joachim (Eds.): Genocide in German South-West Africa: The Colonial War of 1904–1908 and Its Aftermath, 2008
Links:
OvaHerero/Mbanderu and Nama Genocides Institute – ONGI
OvaHerero People’s Memorial and Reconstruction Foundation (OPMRF)
Stationen
Place of commemoration? Not a chance!
Decolonial interventions in St Michael's
Open letter to the city of Hamburg
Genocides Human Remains in museums
Apology in the Kaisersaal
Inajovandu`s birthplace
The “1904–1908 Genocide Survivors Project”
Kahimemua`s burial site
New street names honor victim and freedom fighter
Sima Luipert on resistance and dignity, on clothing and the fight for recognition