After asking Professor Press about genocide reparations earlier this week, I decided to look deeper
into Germany’s current response to the situation. This article reported back in spring of 2016 that
Angela Merkel had promised verbal reparations through a formal apology. This conversation has
been ongoing since 2012, but Germany has remained firm in its decision not to provide monetary
reparations to any Namibians.
into Germany’s current response to the situation. This article reported back in spring of 2016 that
Angela Merkel had promised verbal reparations through a formal apology. This conversation has
been ongoing since 2012, but Germany has remained firm in its decision not to provide monetary
reparations to any Namibians.
But by January of 2017, Germany still had provided no formal apology. Although certain German
evangelical churches offered apologies later that year, the government is still reticent in acknowledging
that a genocide even occurred, let alone recognizing their complicity in it.
This brings into question what the German administration can and should do in the coming months. Angela Merkel, although a figurehead for her country, really holds little jurisdiction. The intermediary position between Germany and Namibia belongs to Ruprecht Polenz, who has long stipulated that “Germany and Namibia need a common understanding of the past” — however that may be achieved. evangelical churches offered apologies later that year, the government is still reticent in acknowledging
that a genocide even occurred, let alone recognizing their complicity in it.
He has maintained that ascertaining where reparations go is too difficult, and that there cannot really be a comparison made between WWII Holocaust survivor reparations and Namibian genocide reparations. Reparations to Holocaust survivors went to survivors, while the request for Namibian reparations was made by the relatives and ancestors of those killed in the Herero-Namaqua Genocide.
~ Elizabeth
German troops in South West Africa, c. Herero revolts
Not entirely related to Namibia but...Your post makes me curious about evangelical churches in Germany. The fact that they offered apologies makes it seem like these churches are more progressive than the rest of the country, which is not usually the case in the US. -Mini
ReplyDeleteThis post made me think of literature regarding Namibian genocide. Like the Holocaust, is there primary or secondary literature narrating the events of Namibian genocide?
ReplyDelete-Mark Buckup