The Genocide in “German South-West Africa” and the Politics of Commemoration—How (Not) to Come to Terms with the Past

Abstract

In January 1904, large sections of the Herero people rose up against German colonial rule. In October of the same year, a number of Nama communities followed their example, taking up arms against the German colonial army. A century later, these colonial wars and their aftermath have become the subject of intense public and academic debate. The present chapter refl ects on visible discourses, political cultures and ideologies currently existing as a result of these two wars in the two republics of Namibia and Germany. The centenary of the wars’ outbreak in 2004 provided a particular focus for a program of public events and statements about the war. In the following, the selectivity of remembrance by various actors in both states will be critically analyzed and commented upon. The chapter does not claim to provide conclusive answers, but instead intends to offer refl ections that might challenge, or at least infl uence, these discourses.1