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Germany's "Forgotten Genocide" - Namibia Marks Genocide Remembrance Day

  • Human Rights Research Center
  • Jun 3
  • 3 min read

June 3, 2025


HRRC strongly condemns any and all forms of genocide, past and present, and urges Germany to include the Herero and Nama people in their negotiations with Namibia over reparations.

Herero people in chains, 1904. [Image credit: Ullstein Bild / Getty Images]
Herero people in chains, 1904. [Image credit: Ullstein Bild / Getty Images]

On Wednesday, May 28th, Namibia marked its first Genocide Remembrance Day to commemorate the estimated 75,000 victims of Germany’s genocide in its former colony, German South West Africa.[1] The mass killings of indigenous Herero and Nama people under German colonial rule in the early 1900s–sometimes referred to as Germany’s “forgotten genocide”--is widely considered to be the first genocide of the 20th century.[2] Decades before the Holocaust, Germany introduced concentration camps in German South West Africa to torture and kill tens of thousands of local people. Now, more than a hundred years later, Germany and Namibia are struggling to negotiate reparations.[3]


German colonial rule in what is now Namibia lasted from 1884 to 1915. In 1904, angry over the confiscation of their land and cattle by the colonizers, the local Herero people staged an attack on a German garrison. In response, Germany ordered that the Herero population be exterminated. A month later, the extermination order was replaced with instructions to incarcerate any surviving members of the Herero population in concentration camps. A similar extermination order against the Nama people was issued the following year.[4] From 1904 to 1908, an estimated 65,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama individuals were killed, equivalent to roughly 80% and 50% of the populations, respectively. Some of the victims’ skulls were taken to Germany to be used for racist, pseudoscientific experiments.[5] 


In 2021, Germany officially acknowledged the killings as genocide and announced a 1.1 billion-euro “rebuilding and development” program, equivalent to $1.3 billion, intended to support development in Namibia over 30 years.[6] However, negotiations over the deal have proven difficult and an agreement is yet to be reached. The Herero and Nama people have been consistently excluded from the talks and have argued that development aid is not an acceptable replacement for reparations.[7] They insist that until representatives of the affected communities are included in the negotiations, Germany’s colonial crimes will never truly be addressed.[8]


The discussion over how Germany should atone for its genocidal colonial history is particularly relevant now, as the West has consistently failed to hold Israel accountable for its genocidal actions in Gaza. In January of 2024, when Germany declared that it would intervene on Israel’s behalf in the genocide case brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Namibia criticized the decision. Hage Geingob, then-president of Namibia, argued that it was hypocritical of Germany to speak of atonement for their genocide in Namibia while simultaneously supporting Israel.[9] 


As attendees at Wednesday’s ceremony lit candles in remembrance of the victims, many feel that the struggle for justice in Namibia is far from over.


Glossary


  • Atone/Atonement: To make amends or show remorse for wrongdoing. In international contexts, it often refers to actions taken by a country to address historical injustices.

  • Colonial rule/Colonizers: The control or governing influence of a nation over a dependent country, territory, or people. Colonizers are the people or country that takes control.

  • Concentration camps: Facilities where large groups of people are detained without trial, often in inhumane conditions.

  • Development aid / Development program: Financial or technical support provided by one country to help improve the economy and quality of life in another.

  • Garrison: the troops stationed in a fortress or town to defend it.

  • Genocide: The deliberate and systematic destruction of a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.

  • Hypocritical: behaving in a way that suggests one has higher standards or more noble beliefs than is the case.

  • Incarcerate: imprison or confine.

  • Indigenous: Refers to the original people of a region before it was colonized or settled by others.

  • International Court of Justice (ICJ): The main judicial body of the United Nations, which settles legal disputes between countries and gives advisory opinions on international legal issues.

  • Intervene (in a legal case): To become involved in a legal case as a third party, usually to support one side.

  • Pseudoscientific experiments: Experiments that claim to be scientific but lack proper scientific methods or evidence. In this case, racist studies were conducted on skulls to try to prove false ideas of racial superiority.

  • Reparations: Compensation given for past harm or injustice, often in the form of money, land, or services.


Sources/Footnotes


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