The Herero were the first ethnic group to be subjected to genocide in the twentieth century. In 2001, the Herero became the first ethnic group to seek reparations for colonial policies that fit the definition of genocide. The Herero are the latest plaintiff to use the procedures of the Alien Torts Claim Act of 1789 to seek reparations in a US federal court for war crimes committed overseas. This article analyzes the legal arguments by Hereros against Germany within the context of current understandings of international law and identifies the challenges that lie ahead for this claim. The article also explores the implications of the Herero claim for other ethnic groups victimized by colonization. IN SEPTEMBER 2001, THE CHIEF HOSEA KUTAKO FOUNDATION instituted a legal claim against three German companies for $2 billion in reparations resulting from the genocide against Hereros in 1904-07. A separate claim was filed a couple of weeks later against the German government for another $2 billion for its role in exterminating over 65,000 Herero during the colonization of German South West Africa (now the independent Republic of Namibia). This article reviews the evolution of these legal claims and analyzes how this litigation fits within the framework of international law. The German slaughter of Herero and Nama is generally recognized as the first genocide of the twentieth century. Following an uprising of Herero against German settlers, the German Schutztruppe chased the Herero into the Omaheke Desert, forcing thousands of women and children to die of thirst while others were shot on sight. Many of those who escaped death were sent to concentration camps, or coerced into working on German commercial farms, where many died from inhumane conditions.1 Allan D. Cooper is a professor of political science at Otterbein College, Ohio (E-mail: acooper@otterbein.edu). 1. See J. Silvester and J. Gewald, Words Cannot be FoundGerman colonial rule in Namibia: An annotated reprint of the 1918 Blue Book (Brill Academic Publishers, Leiden, 2003); J. Gewald, Herero Heroes: A socio-olitical history of the Herero of Namibia 1890-1923 (James Currey, Oxford, 1999); H. Bley, South-West Africa under German Rule 1894-1914 (Heinemann, London, 1971); J. M. Bridgman, The Revolt of the Hereros (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1981); H. Drechsler, Let us Die Fighting: