For the first time in its history, Namibia has set aside a special day to reflect on a tragedy often labeled as “Germany’s forgotten genocide”, recognized by scholars as the earliest genocide of the 20th Century. Over 70,000 Africans were systematically killed, and this new national day is intended to honor their memory.
Decades before the Holocaust, German forces in the territory then known as South West Africa used forced labor camps and cruel medical testing to persecute and kill thousands.
The Ovaherero and Nama peoples were especially targeted for resisting the occupation and seizure of their resources and livestock.
Namibia’s Genocide Remembrance Day, observed this past Wednesday, follows a long campaign to hold Germany accountable and demand redress for the past.
The newly instituted public holiday will be commemorated annually. The official program includes a solemn candlelight ceremony and a moment of silence near the parliament buildings in the capital city, Windhoek, as part of the country’s efforts toward healing.
Officials selected May 28 as the date to observe this event because, on that day in 1907, German authorities declared the closure of the camps after international backlash.
After World War I, Germany lost control of South West Africa along with other overseas territories including parts of present-day Togo and Cameroon.
For decades, there was little acknowledgment from Germany about the atrocities committed between 1904 and 1908.
It wasn’t until four years ago that Germany officially recognized that a genocide had occurred and proposed a €1.1 billion development assistance package to be disbursed over three decades. However, the offer avoided using terms like “reparations” or “compensation” in any legal context.
Namibia turned down the proposal, acknowledging it as “a first step in the right direction” but still falling short, as it lacked both an official apology and the “reparations” that had been demanded.
The reaction from many Namibians was one of outrage.
“That was the joke of the century,” said Uahimisa Kaapehi. “We want our land. Money is nothing.”
Kaapehi, a member of the Ovaherero community and a local official in Swakopmund — one of the places where many killings happened — added that “our wealth was taken, the farms, the cattle.”
A collective representing families of the genocide victims dismissed the 2021 agreement harshly, accusing Germany of a “racist mindset on the part of Germany and neo-colonial subservience on the part of Namibia”.
A revised proposal has since been drafted between both countries. It includes a formal apology and reportedly an additional €50 million to the initial amount.
Yet many Ovaherero and Nama activists argue that the deal falls short of genuine justice and say their voices were ignored during negotiations. While the national memorial day is seen by some as a step forward, others feel it does not replace the need for full justice and accountability.
Numerous campaigners have demanded that lands taken during colonial rule — now largely owned by descendants of German settlers — be returned to the Ovaherero and Nama people.
Historical accounts highlight the contradiction in Germany’s reluctance to provide reparations. Before the genocide even began, the German authorities had demanded reparations from the resisting communities — taking thousands of livestock as punishment.
This livestock amounted to about 12,000 cows, which according to one German-American historian, would be valued today between $1.2 million and $8.8 million. He believes this should be considered in any future reparations agreement.
The genocide formally began in 1904, after an order of extermination was issued by German commander Lothar von Trotha.
“This extermination order indicated that they were no longer going to take on any prisoners – women, men, anyone with or without cattle – they were going to be executed,” explained Namibian historian Martha Akawa-Shikufa in an interview.
She also detailed how the camps operated afterward:
“People got worked to death, a lot of people died in the concentration camps because of exhaustion. In fact there were pre-printed death certificates [saying] ‘death by exhaustion’, waiting for those people to die, because they knew they would die.”
The bones of many victims were later sent to Germany to be used in unethical studies that tried to justify white supremacy. Many of those remains have since been brought back to Namibia.
In a more recent development, Namibia publicly criticized Germany’s support for Israel in a UN genocide case related to Gaza, saying the action contradicted its own unhealed past.
“The German government is yet to fully atone for the genocide it committed on Namibian soil,” remarked then-President Hage Geingob.
