- Inadequate atonement for Namibian genocide
- Germany supports Israel at ICJ
- Namibia condemns Germany’s stance
Germany announced on 12 January that it will intervene on behalf of Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) genocide case launched against it by South Africa in relation to its war on Gaza.
“The German government categorically and unequivocally denounces the allegation of genocide that has been levelled against Israel in the International Court of Justice at this time,” a spokesperson for the German government stated in a statement, adding that the accusation “has no basis whatsoever” and that South Africa was “politicising” genocide.
“The government is especially committed to the UN Genocide Convention in light of Germany’s history, crimes against humanity, and Shoah [the genocide of Jewish people by the German Nazi regime during World War II, the Holocaust],” the spokesperson continued.
As a result of its responsibility for the genocide that led to the convention’s conception, the announcement, which shockingly implied Germany has a better understanding of the convention than any other nation, incited widespread indignation in many countries of the Global South, whose hopes of ending the slaughter in Gaza were tied to South Africa’s landmark case at the World Court.
Namibia Critiques Germany’s ICJ Stance
Namibia was an especially vocal nation in expressing its discontent and disillusionment with Germany’s intervention.
The presidency of Namibia condemned Germany’s “shocking decision” to support Israel at the ICJ on 13 January.
It reminded the world in a statement published on X that the first genocide of the 20th century occurred in Namibia from 1904 to 1908. During this period, “tens of thousands of innocent Namibians perished under the most inhumane and brutal conditions,” and Germany has never fully atoned for this heinous crime.
The presidency stated that Germany should “reconsider its untimely decision to intervene as a third party in defence and support of Israel’s genocidal acts” before the ICJ, in light of its evident inability to learn from its horrific history.
It was concluded that “Germany cannot morally demonstrate its commitment to the United Nations Convention against genocide” or sincerely atone for the genocide it committed in Namibia while “supporting in Gaza what is equivalent to a Holocaust and genocide.”
Namibia’s Forgotten Genocide Revealed
The minuscule Southern African nation of 2.7 million, which was under German colonial rule from 1884 to 1919, exposed in a single breath Germany’s flagrant double standards regarding genocide and its comprehensive failure to address its abhorrent colonial past.
In what was then referred to as German South West Africa, German settlers systematically executed as many as 100,000 Herero and Nama people between 1904 and 1908. This occurred in response to a popular uprising against illegal land seizures and forced labour.
The paramount commander of German South West Africa, Lieutenant General Lothar von Trotha, issued an extermination order on 2 October 1904. The order instructed German soldiers to execute “every male [Herero], armed or unarmed,” while also forcibly displacing or shooting Herero women and children.
Germany rescinded the order on 8 December 1904, but settlers had already displaced and slaughtered thousands of Herero people.
22 April 1905 saw the issuance of a second annihilation order by Von Trotha. He ordered the soldiers to execute the Nama people this time. Amidst the systematic slaughter, German colonisers systematically subjected Nama and Herero girls and women to rape, frequently without facing any consequences.
Germany’s Reluctant Acknowledgment
Special rapporteur Benjamin Whitaker concluded in a 1985 UN report (PDF) that these slaughters in German South West Africa constituted genocide.
Germany, despite the United Nations’ conclusions and despite admitting complete accountability for the Nazi Holocaust against European Jews from 1941 to 1945, which resulted in the deaths of approximately six million innocent people, refused for decades to recognise that its atrocities in Namibia also constituted genocide.
Germany regarded its genocide of the Nama and Herero people, which occurred a mere 33 years prior to the Holocaust, as an antiquated, inconsequential, and routine atrocity devoid of significance, official remorse, or substantial financial reparation, for decades.
The lives of one hundred thousand African men, women, and children who were brutally murdered by the German state in modern-day Namibia were obviously not of the same value to succeeding German governments as the Jews whose lives were ruthlessly extinguished in Europe throughout the Holocaust.
Germany and Namibia signed a purported “joint declaration” in May 2021, acknowledging the Nama and Herero genocide and extending a formal apology to the Namibian people, following six years of ill-fated negotiations.
Germany recognised its “moral, historical, and political obligation” to issue an apology and “provide the means necessary for reconciliation and reconstruction” in the document.
It did not, nevertheless, pledge to pay reparations.
Conversely, Germany made a commitment to allocate 1.1 billion euros (£1.2 billion) in financial assistance to Namibia over a span of three decades. This assistance would be designated towards a development-support programme that would concentrate on a multitude of initiatives, such as electricity and water supply, rural infrastructure improvement, and land reform.
As stated in the “joint declaration,” the purpose of this commitment was ostensibly to eliminate the possibility of reparations and “resolve all financial aspects of the issues relating to the past.”
Namibia has yet to affix its signature to the 30-year grant despite persistently raising objections regarding its structure and magnitude.
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Germany’s inadequate commitments reveal the discriminatory hierarchy it has imposed on the various victims of its genocidal violence, as opposed to “resolving” financial or any other aspect of its senseless colonial violence in Namibia.
Germany and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), a non-profit organisation that negotiates for and distributes funds to victims of Nazi persecution, consented to engage in direct discussions in 1951.
Since then, the Claims Council has received approximately £90 billion in reparations from the German government. It agreed in March 2022 to provide the Claims Council with an additional £720 million to fund food, medication, and home care for 120,000 impoverished Holocaust survivors.
Germany’s Hypocrisy and Unresolved Past
On the contrary, Germany has unequivocally declined to remit any form of reparations, not even a single penny, to the Nama and Herero people. Furthermore, the 1.1 billion-euro (£1.2 billion) in financial assistance that it ultimately promised to provide Namibia over a thirty-year period represents a negligible portion of the contributions it made directly to Holocaust victims.
Furthermore, the negotiations leading to the highly regarded 2021 “joint declaration” failed to include the Namibian Genocide Association, Nama Genocide Technical Committee, Nama Traditional Leaders Association, and Ovaherero Traditional Authority, all of which represented the descendants of the 1904-1908 genocide.
Presently, the majority of Herero and Nama individuals in Namibia remain impoverished and landless, whereas white Namibians, descended from German and South African migrants, own 70% of the most fertile land.
The multifaceted socioeconomic repercussions of the 1904–1908 Holocaust have compelled them to endure. However, Germany continues to deny compensating them in a fair and direct manner for the atrocities it has perpetrated, which have resulted in their social exclusion and financial hardship.
Germany, which has recently proclaimed itself the preeminent authority on the definition of genocide and is actively defending the genocide Israel is demonstrably committing in Palestine in every manner possible, has made a declaration that is not only incredibly hypocritical but also outright repugnant.
This declaration is particularly abhorrent as it emanates from a nation that has steadfastly refused to atone for the genocide it perpetrated in Namibia and has yet to make amends for its colonial past.
