The German forces carried out a genocide against the Herero and Nama African ethnicities during the colonization of Namibia in the early 20th century (1902-1908), leaving behind approximately 65,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama people dead.
After Germany decided to stand with Israel in a lawsuit filed against it at the International Court of Justice in early 2024 for its crimes against Palestinians in Gaza, accusing it of committing genocide and massacres against the Gazans, Namibia reminded Germany of its colonial and genocidal history against the indigenous population.
Namibia
The Republic of Namibia is located in southwest Africa, covering an area of approximately 824,292 square kilometers, bordered to the north by Angola and Zambia, to the east by Botswana, and to the south by South Africa, which also borders it from the east, and to the west the Atlantic Ocean.
Namibia is characterized by its cultural and linguistic diversity, with its population of around 2.642 million people (estimated in 2023) speaking nearly 16 languages and dialects. Despite this diversity, English remains the official language in the country, which adopts a pluralistic democratic governance system, with nearly 90% of its population adhering to the Christian faith.
Beginning of Colonization and the Start of Resistance
On April 28, 1884, Namibia was occupied by Germany with the approval of Britain and South Africa, officially announced on August 7 of the same year.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Namibia saw the arrival of around 5,000 German settlers who immediately began imposing their rule by force on approximately 250,000 indigenous people in this African country.
The German settlers led a campaign to forcibly expel the indigenous population, forcing them to leave their lands and seizing them by force, displacing them to reserves outside their territories where they used to live.
On January 12, 1904, Namibia witnessed the outbreak of a revolution led by the Herero tribe against the German colonial imposition of oppressive laws and looting the wealth of the population.
The tribe’s members engaged in fierce resistance against the settlers and German forces, resulting in the deaths of nearly 120 German settlers and soldiers.
As the resistance intensified, Germany decided to replace the military governor, Theodor Gotthilf Leutwein, and appointed General Lothar von Trotha in his place. General Trotha arrived in the colony in June 1904 with significant military reinforcements.
Upon his arrival, approximately 50,000 men, women, and children of the Herero tribe, along with their herds under the leadership of Samuel Maharero, gathered for negotiations with the general after ceasing their attacks. However, Lothar von Trotha had no intention of negotiating.
During the transfer of Herero individuals to assembly camps in the Khan Mountains in 1905.
On October 2, 1904, General Lothar von Trotha issued an “extermination order” against the Herero tribe, declaring that they must leave the colony or be killed. As a result, around 65,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama people were killed, with the Nama tribe also taking up arms against the Germans and suffering the same fate as the Herero.
After the extermination campaign led by General Trotha, the colony’s governor, Friedrich von Lindequist, called on all Herero people to surrender and join the “assembly camps” from November 1905 to August 1907.
Historians confirm that tens of thousands of Namibians died due to thirst or hunger during their journey to Bechuanaland (Botswana today), while Namibian female prisoners were systematically subjected to sexual assault.
In the towns of Lüderitzbucht and Swakopmund, Herero prisoners died due to harsh climate conditions, malnutrition, and forced labor. The death rate peaked on Shark Island, adjacent to the town of Lüderitzbucht, which the Germans initially leased from the British Cape Colony.
The war officially ended on March 31, 1907, but the camps did not close until January 27, 1908.
After the end of World War I in 1918, the League of Nations decided to withdraw the German colony and mandate it to South Africa under British protection. The administration of the colony was handed over to South Africa in 1920 and remained under its control until Namibia’s independence in 1990.
In 1923, a funeral was held for the Herero tribal chief, Samuel Maharero, whose motto was “We Fight to Live,” marking the beginning of a mass movement by tribal members to convey what had happened to the world.
