Nama and Ovaherero reject 28 May as national genocide memorial day in Namibia

Statement by the alliance ‘No amnesty on genocide’

28.06.2024

This year marks the 120th anniversary of key events in the genocide of the Ovaherero and Nama, such as the Battle of Ohamakari near the Waterberg and Lothar von Trotha’s extermination order against the Ovaherero. The colonial crimes in what was then German South West Africa are now referred to as the first genocide of the 20th century. Nevertheless, even in the calendar of the post-colonial Namibian nation, there has been no official memorial day to commemorate the approximately 100,000 murdered Ovaherero and Nama, not to mention the San and Damara.

At the end of May, the Namibian SWAPO government announced that 28 May would henceforth be the national day of remembrance for the genocide of the Ovaherero and Nama. However, the date chosen by the Namibian government has met with great disapproval from the partner organisations of our alliance ‘No amnesty on genocide’. On 28 May 1908, the German colonial power formally closed the various concentration camps in German South West Africa. However, the forced labour regime continued.

The Nama Traditional Leaders Assocation (NTLA) recalled that the genocidal violence of the German colonial power against the Nama people by no means ended on 28 May 1908: ‘We the traditional leaders of the Nama are convinced that following the closure of the concentration camps, the forced relocation of the Nama to so-called “native reserves” began, from which the Nama were abused for forced labour and sex work for the new white colonial masters,’ reads a statement by the Nama chiefs. Paramount Chief Prof Mutjinde Katjiua of the Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA) agrees with the criticism: ‘28 May was the day the Ovaherero people were reduced to slavery. It is important to remember that there were no repatriation plans for the survivors of the concentration camps to return to their original homes, partly because settlements were destroyed and land was expropriated through formal proclamations’.

The NTLA emphasises that the genocide against the Ovaherero and Nama did not begin in 1904. The massacre of Hornkranz on 12 April 1883 under the German officer Curt von François was already aimed at exterminating the Witbooi Nama. For the Ovaherero, 2 October 1904 is a central day of remembrance, which commemorates Lothar von Trotha’s extermination order against the Ovaherero people. Both the NTLA and the OTA therefore demand that the National Genocide Remembrance Day in Namibia should reflect the dates on which the German colonial power declared its intention to exterminate the Ovaherero and Nama.

We stand in solidarity with the NTLA and OTA and support their demands to be included in the selection process for a national day of remembrance. For them, transparent and participatory decision-making processes are key to consolidating national unity. This is all the more important in the context of the national elections taking place at the end of this year.

Our alliance supports the fundamental idea of creating a national day of remembrance as an important building block in the commemoration of the first genocide of the 20th century. However, the chosen day must be in line with the culture of remembrance of the Ovaherero and Nama organisations.

Together with organisations such as the NTLA and OTA, we are campaigning for full recognition of the genocide of the Ovaherero and Nama as the alliance ‘No amnesty on genocide’. The genocide must finally be recognised and remembered in Germany. Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock ironically made the following statement at the launch of the book ‘The Foreign Office and the Colonies’ on 5 June: ‘How should we forge partnerships for the future today if we were to simply negate this part of our history? If we were to say: We are not interested in our responsibility for your suffering’.

As an alliance, we call on Mrs Baerbock and the German government to finally take real responsibility for the genocide of the Ovaherero and Nama. In concrete terms, this means legally recognising the colonial crimes in Namibia as genocide and negotiating compensation payments on an equal footing with the representatives of the Ovaherero and Nama.