Germany admits to the Namibian genocide – descendants demand more – NRK Urix – foreign news and documentaries

In the years between 1904 and 1907 The German was killed Protection force About 65,000 people are the Herero people and 10,000 are the Nama people.

What is today the country of Namibia, was at that time a German colony under the name German Southwest Africa.

Genocide took the form of regular beatings, starvation, starvation, medical experiments, and disease in concentration camps.

About 75 percent of the Herero people were exterminated.

The two countries have been negotiating for several years, and on Friday they agreed on a declaration. It contains, among other things, an admission that what Germany did was genocide.

Stolen cattle and raped women

Since the 1880s, German colonial power has used a mixture of agreements and coercion to control the region.

Herero had a powerful leader, Maharero, who believed he could trust a pact he struck with the Germans.

Instead, they confiscated the hero’s lands, stole the cattle, took the men as slaves and raped the women.

In 1903, a German merchant tried to rape the wife of a leader’s son. When she resisted, she shot her, while he was acquitted. It didn’t improve the relationship.

When the Herrero family learned of a plan to expropriate land for the construction of railways and the creation of reserves for the “natives”, planning for the uprising began.

More than 120 German farmers were killed in early 1904.

Whites make up today 6.4 percent A resident of the country but the owner Around 70 percentT of arable land. Many of them are descendants of German colonists.

An order to destroy

April 1904 ga general von Trotha ordre About the destruction of the peoples of Herrero and Nama.

14,000 German soldiers were deployed to suppress the uprising. The Germans killed most of the captives, including women and children.

The heroes tried to resist. Few of their men had weapons. Therefore, many of them took livestock with them and fled to the desert.

The German commander blocked all the roads the patriarch could use to return, and the Germans were reported to have poisoned the few sources of drinking water found in the desert.

Several concentration camps have also been established for the numerically smaller hero and Nama people.

This was the first genocide of the twentieth century. The latter was not under the auspices of Germany.

Skeletal studies

Skeletons have been found 13 meters deep in the desert, around holes dug in futile attempts to find water.

Some of the bodies were taken to Germany for studies on biological ethnic differences. It was not until after World War II that such studies went out of style.

Many of the men were beheaded. she was Easier to fill skeletons for export So. Women who were used in prostitution and scraped flesh from skeletons with pieces of broken glass.

Hero and Grace’s last skeletons were not returned until 2018.

The dispute over money

It took more than a hundred years before the Germans recognized this was a genocide.

Germany has agreed to contribute 11 billion NOK to infrastructure, health and “reconstruction” projects over 30 years.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Mas On Friday, he said the projects would contribute to development in areas affected by genocide more than 100 years ago.

Namibian President Hajj Jingob describes the recognition of the genocide and the funding of aid as a “historic step”.

But leader Vikoy Rokoru of the Herrero people called the deal an “insult”. It is believed that Germany should pay compensation directly to the descendants of the victims.

“It’s like bringing a black cat in a bag instead of compensating for crimes against humanity,” Rokoru says.

Foreign Minister Mas asked forgiveness from his descendants, but this was not enough for them.