Articles

Dr. Ngondi A. Kamaṱuka

January 12th, 2025

Today, from the wheatfields of Kansas, I shall continue the yearly penning of my thoughts about January 12th, 1904, as I have done in years past. I pause to recognize the land that has been my home for 48 years as an expression of my gratitude “for the indigenous people who have been living and working on the land time immemorial.” I humbly honor and respect the many diverse indigenous people still connected to this land in Kansas.

We, the descendants of the Ovaherero and Nama genocide, who stand on the shoulders of our people who paid the ultimate prize, must unabashedly educate the world about the genocide of the Ovaherero and Nama peoples committed by Germany from1904-1908. Notwithstanding those who have chosen the path of convenience, to be silent and tone deaf on the suffering of our people to receive benefits from the perpetrators.

We grew up learning about the suffering of our people, dying of thirst in the Kalahari Desert and those mauled down by the crocodiles as they crossed the mighty Limpopo River into South Africa. The story of Otjitiro Otjindjandja, Otjiherero word for genocide – was part of the evening campfire educational ritual of the Ovaherero oral history. Many stories were told about Otjitiro Otjindjandja. One story that has remained forever etched in my soul, is the story of mothers, who, when realizing their newborns had no chance of survival because of the war, made the unimaginable, gut-wrenching decision to nurse Ovaherero soldiers and others instead of their dying babies. Their milk provided much needed sustenance to those who had a glimmer hope of survival, thereby securing future generations. This sustenance gave strength to the Ovaherero to reach the sanctuaries in Botswana and South Africa. We can never, ever, abdicate our responsibility to educate the world about the first twentieth-century genocide committed by Germany. These stories are the ember that started the fire of my educational journey of researching and writing about the genocide of the Ovaherero people.

On January 12th, 1904, 121 years ago today, the Ovaherero people revolted against Imperial Germany for the wanton killings and rapes of Ovaherero women and the confiscation of their land and cattle in Ehi Ro Ovaherero, Ovaherero land, present-day Namibia. Germany’s response to the Ovaherero’s legitimate uprising is well documented in the annals of history. Germany responded with a well-planned, military campaign, carried out by 14,000 Schutztruppe, soldiers, from 1904-1908. The flotilla carrying the force docked at Otjozondjii, Swakopmund, on June 14th, 1904. The invading German force was commanded by Lieutenant-General Adrian Lothar von Trotha, whom Kaiser Wilhelm II himself had anointed to carry out the genocidal operation against the Ovaherero and the Nama peoples. The qualification for the appointment was based on his notorious experience, in putting down the Wahehe rebellion, 1891-1898, in present-day Tanzania, and his involvement in crushing the Boxer rebellion in China, 1899-1901.

Armed with only hunting rifles and spears, the Ovaherero army managed to inflict, what at the time, were unacceptable and embarrassing losses in Berlin. They beat the powerful German army in battles such as the Battle of Okandjira where women played a significant military role in the defeat of German forces. However, lack of reinforcement and the absence of credible intelligence gathering mechanisms led to the Ovaherero’s defeat at the Battle of Ohamakari on August 14th, 1904.

It is critical that the military rules of engagement that defined the war are illuminated. The Ovaherero Army strictly adhered to the rules of engagement codified in the Paramount and Commander-in-Chief Samuel Maharero’s letter, dated January 11th, 1904. Maherero directed his army not to harm German women and children. The Schutztruppe, trained in the Prussian army’s tradition on the conduct of wars, showed no decency. They committed crimes against humanity, mercilessly slaughtering non-combatants, including women and children, in the furtherance of their twisted belief, that the “Ovaherero and Nama are not peoples capable of life and culture”.

On October 2nd, 1904, at Ozombuzovindimba, von Trotha read the written German Extermination Order, Vernichtungsbefehl, against the Ovaherero. This was the first such written order in history from the Commander-in-Chief of the German Armed Forces, Kaiser Wilhelm II.

The order gave von Trotha carte blanche to wipe out the entire Ovaherero population from the face of the earth with impunity. The result was devastating: 65,000, 81% of the population, were slaughtered. On April 22nd, 1905, Germany issued a second Extermination Order against the Nama people. However, on May 29th, 1905, the final was tweaked to read as: “… had better quit the country because wherever they are seen in German territory they will be shot at until the outlaws have been exterminated”. Jeremy Sarkin, (2011) (Quoted in Gewald, J.B. & Silvester, J. (2003).
The result was equally devastating on the Nama people, resulting in 10,000, 50%, of the population being massacred. At the time, members of the community of nations, including the ecclesiastical establishment, namely the German Evangelical Lutheran Church, and the Roman Catholic Church, never protested the German crimes against humanity. In fact, both the German Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Roman Catholic Church were complicit in the genocide of the Ovaherero and Nama peoples, and remain silent today, just as they were 121 years ago. The following excerpt is taken from the Evangelische Kirche In Germany (EKD) under the heading. “Forgive us our sins” issued on April, 24th, 2017.
“With a confession of guilt and the request for forgiveness the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) has turned to the descendants of the victims of what most historians refer to as the first genocide of the 20th century. As the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and successor organization of the former Prussian Evangelical High Church Council (Oberkirchenrat), we expressly confess our guilt today towards the entire Namibian people and before God (Matthew 6:12)”.
There is a serious omission in this EKD apology. The Ovaherero and Nama peoples were specifically mentioned by name and targeted by the extermination’s orders. The question before us is, why is EKD so afraid of mentioning the Ovaherero and Nama peoples by name? We are Ovaherero! We are Nama people! Call us by our names. It must also be understood that those who enabled Adolph Hitler in committing the sho’ah Holocaust, some thirty years later, honed their craft by participating in the genocide of the Ovaherero and Nama peoples. Ernst Goering, father of Herman Goering, was the first Deutsche Landeshauptmann (Land Commissioner) in Namibia. Herman Goering, who was conceived in Namibia, became second-in-command to Adolf Hitler. In fact, some of the Wehrmacht commanders received their on-the-job training in the genocidal war campaign against the Ovaherero and the Nama peoples.

Today the Ovaherero people under the aegis of Paramount Chief Dr. Mutjinde Katjiua of the Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA) and the Nama people, under the stewardship of Gaob Johannes Isaack, of the Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA) continue to fight for restorative justice, reparations, and an apology from Germany. The measurable actions of OTA and NTLA include taking the Ovaherero/Nama genocide case to international arenas, such as United States of America judicial courts, United Nations, public exhibits, conference presentations, and lectures/talks on college campuses in the United States. As descendants of the Ovaherero/Nama genocide and as American citizens, we, the Association of the Ovaherero Genocide in the United States of America (AOG), shall not shrink from our responsibility in the fight for apology, restorative justice, and reparations for our people using a multitude of venues.

We shall continue to draw strengths from the well in the words written by a German Rabbi’s wife in 1931 on the back of a photograph: “Our light will outlast their flag”. And to act as Congressman John Lewis asked those who have been victims of injustice not to “get lost in the sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime”.

Clearly, these words speak to the struggle and the inner soul of the Ovaherero and Nama peoples. With the deepest respect and reverence for our people and legacy the descendants shall forever amplify the stories of our people silenced by German bullets. We shall not be weary in continuing to “get in good trouble, necessary trouble in demanding justice”.

The German government of Chancellor Angela Merkel dictated the terms of the so-called Joint Declaration by the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Namibia. So-called because Germany dictated all the terms and representatives from the Ovaherero and Nama people did not participate in the process. Presented to the Namibian government in 2021, the “United in Remembrance of Our Colonial Past, United In our Vision of The Future,” Germany insisted there is absolutely no possibility of renegotiation. The government of Namibia headed by then President Hage Geingob agreed that the loss of over 100,000 Ovaherero and Nama lives, land and culture are only worth 1.3 billion U.S. dollars to be paid out over a period of 30 years. This equates to about 43,333,333 million dollars a year. These funds are for the use of development aid. The Namibian government decides where and how the money is allocated.

The government of Namibia allowed itself to be played by the cunning German negotiators; allowing itself to be dictated to; and, shamefully agreeing to the unacceptable and questionable terms of the “German Declaration.” Ignoring the travesty of the exclusion of the Ovaherero and Nama descendants, the governments of Germany and Namibia signed a joint declaration about development aid for which Geingob and Mbumba had their hands out for and the maintenance of the so-called good relationship between the two governments. This, is the legacy of Presidents Hage Geingob and Mbumba Nangolo.

On May 23rd, 2021, late Paramount Chief of the Ovaherero, Advocate Vekuii Rukoro and Gaob Johannes Isaack of the Nama people issued a statement rejecting the joint declaration between Germany and Namibia. The OTA and NTLA were deliberately excluded from participating in the negotiation between the two governments in contravention of the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The declaration gives the indigenous people the right to partake in decision-making processes in matters affecting them through representation of their own choosing. Both governments are signatories to the United Nations Declaration. OTA represents 95% of the Ovaherero people, including those in the diaspora. NTLA represents 100% of the Nama people. A precedence was established by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer’s government when they negotiated directly with the Jewish Claims Conference participants in the 1950s. The Ovaherero and Nama peoples have the inalienable right to speak for themselves and not be represented by third parties.

Today the German great-great-grandchildren live on stolen Ovaherero and Nama peoples’ lands. This is happening in an independent African country. How is it possible that these people still get to keep their ill-gotten wealth while the Ovaherero and Nama peoples live in abject poverty?

The succeeding German government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz continued to enforce Chancellor Merkel’s one-sided “German Declaration” imposed on the Namibian government. The Ovaherero and Nama peoples are clear in their demands. The German Declaration is defiled and its rancidity is unbearable. The 2006 Motion of the Namibian Parliament called for the OTA and NTLA to represent themselves in any negotiations with Germany along with the Namibian government as an interested party.

In their December 2023 end-of-year message, Gaob Johannes Isaack and Paramount Chief Mutjinde Katjiua noted the following:

Seven UN Special Rapporteurs concluded: “1. The Joint Declaration does not contain effective reparative measures and doesn’t provide the necessary means to achieve reconciliation; 2. Ovaherero and Nama peoples’ direct and meaningful participation was not a matter of political discretion of the two governments, but is guaranteed by international law; 3. The UN Special Rapporteurs also raised the reproduction of colonial racism by the current interpretation of the doctrine of intertemporal law by the German government. They reiterate that this interpretation of the doctrine of intertemporal law is an obstacle to reparations and that the German government should refrain from interpreting it that way.”
OTA and NTLA filed legal proceedings against the Namibian government for their contrarian behavior in the Ovaherero and Nama genocide negotiations with Germany.
In meetings with Bundestag Green Party Members of Parliament in Berlin it became crystal clear to OTA and NTLA that the Green Party has betrayed their trust by deviating from its policy position of November 2021.

The governments of Germany and Namibia must pay heed to our battle cry: It cannot be about us, without us; anything about us, without us, is against us. We are thankful of our German allies who through NGOs and other forums stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Ovaherero and Nama peoples. These allies engage in robust campaigns to convince the German public and government to accept the demands of OTA and NTLA for direct negotiations with the German government.

There must be no illusion that we negotiated with Germany. We did not. We are clear in our demands for restorative justice and reparations. Germany, you might have fooled the capacity-challenged governments of Presidents Geingob and Nangolo with your dictated edicts that Namibia has dutifully accepted. We have not seen any proof of discernable pushback from the Namibian government. You can never ever fool the Ovaherero under the leadership of Paramount Chief Dr. Mutjinde Katjiua, and the Nama people under the leadership of Gaob Johannes Isaack in Namibia and the diaspora. Germany, we are not buying your snake oil remedy. Germany, your imposed joint-declaration is devoid of the word ‘genocide,’ an act you carefully planned in the halls of your government. It is incomprehensible to understand why the Namibian government would agree to this omission. But when your soul was never touched by the genocide of the Ovaherero and Nama peoples, and you were never a victim, and never heard the stories of your great-great grandparents narrating what happened to them, you would agree to this. That’s the only plausible explanation one could fathom.

To the governments of Germany and Namibia and the world, I share Maya Angelou’s poem, I Rise:

You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lies,

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave

I am the dream and the hope of the slave

I rise

And Still I Rise.

As James Baldwin extolls us, we, the Ovaherero and Nama peoples, “shall play the same notes no matter how dissonant they sound(ed)”. We shall never abdicate our responsibility to fight for reparations and restorative justice. This is our solemn vow to honor those whose voices were silenced by the German killing machine 121 years ago.