Namibia marks first Genocide Remembrance Day amid growing calls for reparations

Namibia has officially commemorated its first Genocide Remembrance Day,honoring more than 70,000 Ovaherero and Nama people killed by German colonial forces between 1904 and 1908.

The solemn national holiday was marked by a candle-lighting ceremony and war cries,as calls for reparations and justice intensified. President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah,speaking at the ceremony,described the day as “a symbol of unity and reflection,” but stressed that Namibia would not forget the emotional,cultural,and economic scars of what historians call the first genocide of the 20th century. The genocide — ordered by German General Lothar von Trotha — included extermination orders,forced displacements,and the establishment of concentration camps decades before the Holocaust. Victims were subjected to executions,starvation,and pseudoscientific experiments; many remains were shipped to Germany for racist studies.

Despite Germany’s 2021 recognition of the genocide and a €1.1 billion development aid pledge over 30 years,no binding reparations agreement has been signed. President Nandi-Ndaitwah reiterated that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed,” urging a swift end to ongoing talks. Many Ovaherero and Nama descendants remain excluded from negotiations and demand land restitution,not just aid. Activists say true reconciliation requires direct compensation and the return of ancestral land still owned by German descendants. “Money is nothing,” town councilor and Ovaherero elder Uahimisa Kaapehi told reporters. “We want our land.”