The Extermination Order

In October 1904, General von Trotha issued an extermination order against the Ovaherero in the colony of German South West Africa, which corresponds to today’s Namibia. After Germany’s response to an uprising against their rule in August of that year, roughly 100,000 Nama and Ovaherero fell victim to German troops, hunger, thirst and inhumane conditions in concentrations camps. Those events unfolded between 1904-1908. Although recognised as a genocide by the UN in 1985, it took another three decades until the German government took action.

The Joint Declaration

In June 2021, the German and Namibian governments presented a joint declaration on the matter. In it, Germany would have apologised for “events that, from today’s perspective, would be called genocide.” It further included a 1 billion Euro development programme to assist descendants of particularly affected communities, and another 50 million for research and reconciliation However, Germany categorially ruled out legal responsibility. The Nama and Ovaherero did not feel represented in the negotiation process, as well as demanded a confession of guilt in a legal sense. Consequently, the Declaration was not adopted by the Namibian parliament. Against the backdrop of snap elections in Germany in 2025, neither the then-ruling Green Party nor the Social Democrats were willing to make the genocide in Namibia an election issue. It appears that also the new government, composed of conservatives and social democrats, has not been overly keen to conclude the agreement since taking office in May 2025. Results from a representative survey conducted in December 2024 can give us some hints as to why.

The Heart Does Not Grieve Over What the Eye Does Not See

For nearly a century, Germany’s colonial past, including its occupation of German South West Africa, was considered closed. Having lasted from 1884 – 1915, and therefore a comparatively short period of time compared to other European colonial possessions, many Germans perceived the issue to be negligible. Further, the two World Wars, the Holocaust, and German reunification obscured the colonial past in the collective memory. In a representative survey from December 2024 commissioned by the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (PRIF) and conducted by YouGov, 65 percent of respondents answered “hardly anything” when asked how much they knew about Germany’s history in Namibia. By contrast, only 5 percent stated that they had comprehensive knowledge of the subject. Nearly half of all respondents (48 percent) with a post-secondary level of education (vocational training or university degree) reported to have at least average knowledge, and 7 percent a comprehensive knowledge. These numbers drop to 26 and 3 percent for respondents with no education beyond secondary school.

Recognition of the Genocide

This general lack of knowledge has consequences on how Germans view the colonial past. When asked whether “the colonial wars against the Nama and Herero constitute genocide by today’s standards”, 56 percent of respondent did not feel confident enough to answer. Amongst those who do have a position on the issue, 37 percent support, and 7 percent reject this view.

The overall low numbers of people recognising the genocide might explain why  the government backed away from trying to adopt the Joint Declaration The survey offered a wide range of potential measures ranging from symbolical gestures (official apology by the German government), measures in the areas of memory and educational politics (building and rededicating memorials or appointing a historical/schoolbook commission) to restorative measures (paying official development aid or reparations to the descendants of victims).

What Measures do Germans Support?

Generally, Germans seem to be more open towards symbolical measures and less open to reparation payments. An official apology by the German government is supported by 37 percent and rejected by 27 percent. In comparison, direct reparations to affected communities are only strongly supported by 23 percent while being strongly rejected by 41 percent. Development aid to the Namibian government, as envisioned in the Joint declaration, receives slightly more support: 28 percent support this measure while 37 percent reject it.

The Relevance of Education

Formal education seems to have a significant influence on both the recognition of the genocide and the respondents’ support for measures of reconciliation. Among those with higher education, one in two respondents acknowledged the events as genocide while 9 percent reject this classification. This compares to 26 percent acknowledgement and 8 percent rejection amongst respondents with a lower level of education. Nevertheless, even among highly educated Germans the rate of respondents being unable or unwilling to answer the question remains relatively high, at 41 percent.

Age Appears to be a Relevant Factor

The age cohort of 18 to 29-year-olds showed above-average levels of agreement with the statement that the colonial wars constituted a genocide (42 percent). This could be explained by changes in history lessons and corresponding history books since the year 2000. With 46 percent, this age group also has the lowest number of “don’t know” answers, which indicates that people of this generation have both the necessary information and the need to form an opinion on this question. In addition to young adults, those over the age of 70 also stand out. 42 percent of this age group recognise the colonial wars in Namibia as genocide. Higher rates of acknowledgement of the genocide generally translate into higher support for reconciliatory measures. Consequently, there may be a causal relationship whereby historical knowledge promotes the recognition of the genocide, which in turn is indicative of the willingness to support measures of reconciliation. As the two age cohorts of the under 30 and the over 70-years-olds might indicate, historical education on the colonial past and a multidirectional-memory-approach seem essential for boosting acknowledgement of the genocide. Nevertheless, reparations remain an especially unpopular measure, supported only by 23 percent of Germans.

A Stark Contrast with Holocaust Remembrance

For decades, coming to terms with both National Socialism and the history of East Germany has been part of German remembrance. In particular, the Holocaust and the Second World War have shown that a mix of measures were necessary to rebuild interstate relations, to help heal the trauma of the victims, to develop a new national identity, and to ensure that history does not repeat itself. An important step was the Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany signed in 1952. Germany pledged to pay reparations to both the State of Israel and the Jewish Claims Commission. In 2000, a fund was set up to compensate former victims of forced labour. These reparations were supplemented by symbolic yet highly memorable actions such as former Chancellor Willy Brandt’s kneeling in front of the monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. Finally, the Holocaust and National Socialism became an integral part of school curricula and a broad memory landscape consisting of public memorials and temporary exhibitions. By contrast, the country’s approach regarding the colonial atrocities committed in Namibia is still limited. Since final negotiations on the Joint Declaration were supposed to be concluded in 2025, it may soon become clear whether there is the political will to change this situation.