Hamburg's dark colonial history: genocide and reparations

Hamburg's dark colonial history: genocide and reparations

In recent years, a strong awareness of the country's colonial past has developed in Germany. The focus is primarily on crimes in Africa, such as the genocide of the Herero and Nama in Namibia, which took place between 1904 and 1908. Already during this phase, Hamburg residents were also actively involved in colonial activities, which not only shows a dark side of Hamburg's history, but also had far-reaching effects on the affected communities. Hamburg.de reports that politicians, scientists and business people from the Hanseatic city were involved in these crimes.

The Herero and Nama genocide, one of the first genocides of the 20th century, claimed an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 lives. Many survivors were sent to concentration camps, where almost half of the inmates lost their lives. The brutality with which the German protection force under the command of Lothar von Trotha acted is unforgettable. On October 2, 1904, Trotha issued an extermination order against the Herero, which had more than just military consequences - it led to the destruction of their community and culture. Planet knowledge explains the far-reaching consequences of these wars.

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There was hardly any memory of these atrocities in Germany for decades. For a long time, the historian Lothar von Trotha and the extermination order were only mentioned in passing. It was only the anthology “Genocide in German South West Africa” from 2004 that brought the topic back into focus. The German government has now officially recognized the crimes as genocide and apologized to the descendants of the affected ethnic groups in 2021. However, this recognition did not come about without political pressure, and the Namibian Council of Chiefs has rejected previous compensation payments as inadequate.

Talks on reparation began with Namibia, resulting in an agreement that provides for payments of 1.1 billion euros over 30 years. These funds are to be invested in projects to promote education, agriculture and infrastructure in the Herero and Nama settlement areas. However, no legal rights to compensation can be derived from this agreement, which continues to anger many in Namibia. Ratification of the agreement is still pending and opposition politician Bernadeus Swartbooi has filed a lawsuit criticizing Parliament's lack of involvement in the negotiations.

Memorials and the path to reconciliation

The Genocide Memorial in Windhoek is an impressive reminder of the victims of this tragic story. The public in both Namibia and Germany sees the need not only to acknowledge the atrocities, but also to restore the dignity of the affected ethnic groups. In 2022, a conference on the topic of reparations was held in Berlin, but it had no concrete result because the federal government avoided the term “reparations”. The time of oblivion now seems to be over, but the road to fully coming to terms with this dark history is long and rocky. Deutschlandfunk describes the challenges that still lie ahead of us.

Coming to terms with this colonial past remains a sensitive issue that affects us all. Because how we deal with history not only shapes our current consciousness, but also our future.