Namibia this week will hold its first national commemoration for victims of mass killings by German occupiers in what is widely recognised as the first genocide of the 20th century, the government said.
Colonial-era German troops massacred tens of thousands of indigenous Herero and Nama people who rebelled against their rule in the southern African country between 1904 and 1908.
Namibia was known from 1884 to 1915 as German South West Africa, or Deutsch-Südwestafrika in German – part of the German empire on the continent and which included Togoland in West Africa, German Kamerun in central Africa, and German East Africa (the area now made up of Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda).
Genocide Remembrance Day will be celebrated on 28 May in the gardens of Namibia's parliament and feature a candlelight vigil and minute of silence, according to a government programme released Monday.
The day has been declared a national holiday in Namibia and members of the diplomatic community are expected at the event, where President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah will deliver a keynote address.
The commemorations will then be held annually to mark "the beginning of a national journey of healing", the government said, adding that it "serves as a moment of national reflection and mourning".
The date of 28 May was chosen as it was the day in 1907 when German authorities ordered the closure of concentration camps following international criticism over the brutal conditions and high death rates.
First genocide of the 20th century
Germany recognised only in 2021 that its settlers had committed genocide, after discussions started in 2015.
Berlin has not issued a formal apology or offered reparations, but in 2021 pledged more than one billion euros in development aid over 30 years. Namibia rejected the proposal and negotiations are continuing.
Germany officially recognises colonial-era genocide in Namibia
Germany ruled German South West Africa as a colony with settlers taking local women, land and cattle, which led the Herero tribe to launch a revolt in January 1904. More than 100 German civilians were killed over several days. The smaller Nama tribe joined the uprising in 1905.
The settler community was very small, only a few thousand, and Germany feared that it had lost its deterrence vis-à-vis the natives.
The Germans responded ruthlessly, killing an estimated 60,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama people. Hundreds were also beheaded after their deaths and their skulls handed to researchers in Berlin for experiments attempting to prove the racial superiority of whites over blacks.
Germany was forced out of the colony in 1915. Namibia passed to South African rule, and only gained independence in 1990.
The events are now recognised by historians as the first genocide of the twentieth century.
Some historians see the killings as a precursor to the Holocaust during the second world war.
(with AFP)
