Tribe demands Germany apologises 100 years after 'forgotten' massacre

[Aidoneus]

Tribe demands Germany apologises 100 years after 'forgotten' massacre
Descendants of Herero tribe claim $4bn for up to 60,000 deaths in Africa
Luke Harding in Berlin
Wednesday August 11, 2004
The Guardian

Germany was under pressure last night to apologise for an episode of its largely forgotten colonial past, the massacre of up to 60,000 Africans by its troops 100 years ago today.

Descendants of the Herero tribe, in what is now Namibia, have demanded a formal apology for the atrocities committed under German colonial rule.

The Herero were killed after an uprising against German settlers in the then German South West Africa.

On August 11-12 1904 German troops shot thousands of Herero after trapping them on an arid plain.

The massacre at Waterberg, near the Namibian capital, Windhoek, was the most infamous episode in a campaign overshadowed by Germany's even darker later history.

Although the Social Democrat government has said it "regretted" the killings, it has refused to apologise, prompting a furious response by Herero descendants.

--snip--

http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,2763,1280561,00.html

[dumpster_baby]

1. you reap what you sow

And we Americans have been reaping what we have sown....

[James T. Kirk]

2. The Germans should apologize.

More info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herero_massacre

Thanks for the info. I had never heard of this before.

[xchrom]

3. apologise? -- indeed

that's the least they could do.
ah those lovely colonial times.

[Kellanved]

5. it is not that easy

There are several US-based lawsuits going against Germany and German companies because of it. An apology is not likely, as long as those are continuing (not that I support that condition).

Germany has given more aid to Namibia than to any other African country in the past 14 years; it is against the German Development Aid Policy to give money exclusively to one tribe.

[reorg]

6. compensation is not "development" assistance

Well, I think what Fischer said was that he would not make statements that are "entschädigungsrelevant" (compensation-relevant), whatever that is supposed to mean.

State representatives were probably warned by lawyers not to make official statements which could be interpreted as an acceptance of guilt of the German government, legal successor of the German "Reich".

On the other hand, the 500 million spent for development assistance in Namibia since 1990 are not that much. Given that most of this money represents income for well-paid German development specialists, whether they are locally deployed (big bonus) or working from Germany: what the beneficial effects of this help for Namibia may be is hardly ever known ... (only in the last few years it has occured to these specialists that effects should maybe tested). In some cases, like promotion of small businesses (meat industry) huge export subsidies for EU products to South Africa outmanouvre such help, in others, e. g. "capacity building" in environmental protection (avoidance of CFC), the supposed impact is global rather than just local.

So these 500 million have in reality very little, if anything to do with compensation for past crimes, and it is plainly dishonest by the government to mention them in this context.

[gottaB]

9. omg, I agree with reorg

:toast:

[Kellanved]

10. of course not

There is no question about the German guilt in the matter.

However, unlike the American aid, most German Development aid is not "tied" to German or EU companies.

[SemperEadem]

7. but it's ok to anihilate exclusively one tribe, though...

let's see--they occupied a country that wasn't theirs, when the people revolted, they felt justified in massacring 60,000 of them on their native soil and then, because they are too much of a punk to take their asswhippin' for standing in their truth, they 'refuse' to apologize for being so foul and wrong...

And we wonder why the world is the way it is.

[Bat Boy]

4. They said they regretted it. What more do you want?

Translation - "Oops."

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

8. this really isnt that forgotten....

...this massacre pops up occasionally in the German media.

I bet very few Americans even knew the Germans had colonies in Africa, and the South Pacific.

[James T. Kirk]

11. I'm glad the good guys won World War I.

[reorg]

12. another cost-free apology by Heidi, our development minister

cited from AFP's German section of August 14, 2004

http://www.afp.com/deutsch/home/

note how the speech meticulously dances around expressions that could be interpreted as acknowledging (financially relevant) guilt of the (current) German government:

- guilt? Yes, but only "historical-political and moral-ethical";
- apology? Yes, but only "in the sense of the 'Lord's Prayer'";
- genocide? Yes, but only "today" would it be labelled as such.

(translation mine, original below, with apologies if I made mistakes, reorg)


Wieczorek-Zeul asks Herero's forgiveness (14/08/2004)

Okakarara (AFP) Hundred years after the war of obliteration against the Herero, the development minister, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul (SPD) has asked for forgiveness for the atrocities committed by the German colonial regime. It was the first time that a member of the German government participated in a commemoration of the Herero in Namibia, the former colony "German South-West Africa".

"We, the Germans, admit to our historical-political and moral-ethical responsibility and guilt that Germans have burdened themselves with at the time", the minister said during a commemoration at the anniversary of the decisive battle at Waterberg in Namibia. "I ask you, in the sense of the common 'Lord's Prayer', to forgive us our trespasses.

"I commemorate with respect your ancestors who died in the fight against their German oppressors", said Wieczorek-Zeul in front of several thousand Herero at the battle's location. "Blinded by colonial delusion" Germans had brought "violence, discrimination, racism and annihilation" to the country. Today, these past crimes would be labelled genocide and the commander-in-chief of the German troops, General Lothar von Trotha, sentenced in a court of law. Her speech was met with applause, but also with shouted requests for an apology.

The minister's speech had been eagerly looked forward to in Namibia. For years, Herero representatives have been pressing the German government for an official apology and a classification of the crimes as genocide. One Herero group also makes requests for compensation and filed claims in the USA, which, however, are no longer pending with a court. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer had declined during a visit in Namibia in October to make a "compensation-relevant apology".

...

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Wieczorek-Zeul bittet Herero um Vergebung (14/08/2004)


Okakarara (AFP) Hundert Jahre nach dem Vernichtungsfeldzug gegen die Herero hat Entwicklungsministerin Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul (SPD) um Vergebung für die Gräueltaten der deutschen Kolonialmacht gebeten. Es war das erste Mal, dass ein Mitglied der Bundesregierung an einer Gedenkfeier der Herero in Namibia, der früheren Kolonie Deutsch-Südwestafrika, teilnahm.

"Wir Deutschen bekennen uns zu unserer historisch-politischen, moralisch-ethischen Verantwortung und Schuld, die Deutsche damals auf sich geladen haben", sagte die Ministerin bei der Gedenkfeier zum Jahrestag der entscheidenden Schlacht am Waterberg in Namibia. "Ich bitte Sie im Sinne des gemeinsamen 'Vater unser' um Vergebung unserer Schuld."

"Ich gedenke mit Hochachtung Ihrer Vorfahren, die im Kampf gegen ihre deutschen Unterdrücker gestorben sind", sagte Wieczorek-Zeul vor mehreren tausend Herero am Ort der Schlacht. "Verblendet von kolonialem Wahn" hätten Deutsche "Gewalt, Diskriminierung, Rassismus und Vernichtung" über das Land gebracht. Heute würden die Verbrechen von damals als Völkermord bezeichnet und der Oberbefehlshaber der deutschen Kolonialtruppe, General Lothar von Trotha, vor Gericht verurteilt. Nach ihrer Rede gab es Applaus, aber auch Rufe nach einer Entschuldigung.

Die Rede der Ministerin war in Namibia mit Spannung erwartet worden. Vertreter der Herero dringen seit Jahren auf eine offizielle Entschuldigung der Bundesregierung und eine Einordnung der Verbrechen als Völkermord. Eine Herero-Gruppe fordert auch Entschädigungszahlungen und reichte deswegen in den USA Klagen ein, die aber nicht mehr anhängig sind. Bundesaußenminister Joschka Fischer hatte bei seinem Besuch in Namibia im Oktober eine "entschädigungsrelevante Entschuldigung" abgelehnt.

...