On July 6, a delegation of Namibian leaders, lawyers, and heads of civic organizations, arrived in Berlin hoping to meet with German President Joachim Gauck, to present him with a petition signed by over 2,000 German public figures including members of the Bundestag, the German national parliament.
The document, titled ” Genocide is Genocide “, called on the German government to accept “historical responsibility” for the genocide perpetrated against the Herero and Nama people over a century ago.
Germany ruled Namibia from 1884 to 1915.
In January 1904, inhabitants of Namibia, the Herero rose up against German rule, and the colonialists – deploying weaponry that would later be used in World War I – responded mercilessly.
It was in October 1904 that General Lothar von Throtha, the Reich’s commander in German “South-West Africa”, issued his infamous extermination order – to kill any Herero, armed or not, found within the borders of German colonial territory.
As the Herero fled into the desert towards Botswana, the German authorities sealed off the border.
Thousands died of thirst and starvation, the rest were sent to concentration camps.
The first genocide of 20th century