CRSV: The Herero and Nama (or Namaqua) Genocide

This case note documents the occurrence of sexual violence in violent conflict. It contains explicit mentions of different forms of sexual assault. Reader discretion is advised.

Background of the Conflict

The Herero and Nama (or Namaqua) genocide,  was the ethnic erasure and collective punishment waged against the Herero and Nama in German South West Africa (now Namibia) by the German Empire (Steinhauser, 2017). This was the first genocide in the 20th Century (Olusoga, 2015), unfolding between 1904 and 1908. Starting in January 1904, the Herero people, led by Samuel Maharero, and the Nama people, led by Captain Hendrik Witbooi, rebelled against German colonial rule (Reader, 1997). In August 1904, the German General Lothar von Trotha defeated the Ovaherero in the Battle of Waterberg and drove them into the desert of Omaheke, where most of them died from dehydration and starvation. In October, the Nama people also rebelled against the Germans and met a similar fate. As many as up to 100,000 Hereros and 10,000 Nama people were killed in the genocide (Nuhn, 1989). Several of Hereros and Nama were first starved and dehydrated in the desert, followed by detention and imprisonment in concentration camps, where several died from disease, abuse, and exhaustion (Gewald, 2000). These events were formally recognized by the UN as a genocide in the Whitaker Report, and by Germany as well, when it issued an apology in 2004 (Lyons, 2004). In May 2021, the German government issued an official statement apologizing for the genocide, and agreed to pay Euro 1.1 billion over 30 years to fund projects in communities impacted by the genocide (Olterman, 2021).

Prevalence of Sexual Violence

During the rebellion, German soldiers were regularly reported to have engaged in gang rapes targeting both Herero and Nama women (Totten et al., 2007), before killing the women or leaving them in the desert for dead. Several Herero women were also forced into sexual slavery by German soldiers (Cocker, 1998). Herero leaders repeatedly raised the complaint that Germans raped and targeted Herero women and girls with sexual violence with impunity. However, none of these cases were tried before the colonial courts because the Germans considered these events “mere peccadilloes” (Klotz, 1994).

Basis of the Use of Sexual Violence

Sexual violence and rape were deployed as part of the larger campaign of genocide and ethnic erasure, where women were targeted on the basis of their ethnic identities. They were also subject to sexual violence and rape to humiliate, intimidate, and torture the ethnic groups at large, and to punish them collectively for rebelling against colonial rule. Aside from this, sexual slavery was also a common basis for the use of sexual violence and rape.

References

Cocker, Mark (1998). Rivers of blood, rivers of gold: Europe's conflict with tribal peoples. London: Jonathan Cape.

Gewald, J.B. (2000). "Colonization, Genocide, and Resurgence: The Herero of Namibia, 1890–1933". In Bollig, M.; Gewald, J.B. (eds.). People, Cattle and Land: Transformations of a Pastoral Society in Southwestern Africa. Köln, DEU: Köppe.

Joint Declaration by the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Namibia "United in Remembrance of Our Colonial Past, United in Our Will to Reconcile, United in Our Vision of the Future. https://www.dngev.de/images/stories/Startseite/joint-declaration_2021-05.pdf

Klotz, M. (1994). White women and the dark continent: gender and sexuality in German colonial discourse from the sentimental novel to the fascist film (Ph. D.). Stanford University.

Lyons, C. (2004). "Germany Admits Namibia Genocide". BBC News. https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3565938.stm

Nuhn, W. (1989). Sturm über Südwest. Der Hereroaufstand von 1904 [Storm over Southwest. The Herero Rebellion of 1904] (in German). Koblenz, DEU: Bernard & Graefe-Verlag.

Olusoga, David (2015). "Dear Pope Francis, Namibia was the 20th century's first genocide". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/18/pope-francis-armenian-genocide-first-20th-century-namibia

Oltermann, Philip (28 May 2021). "Germany agrees to pay Namibia €1.1bn over historical Herero-Nama genocide". https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/28/germany-agrees-to-pay-namibia-11bn-over-historical-herero-nama-genocide

Reader, J. (1997). Africa: A Biography.

Totten, S., Bartrop, P. R., Jacobs, S. L. (2007). Dictionary of Genocide: M–Z. Greenwood.

Steinhauser, G. (2017). "Germany Confronts the Forgotten Story of Its Other Genocide". https://www.wsj.com/articles/germany-confronts-the-forgotten-story-of-its-other-genocide-1501255028

Whitaker Report: 1984 UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1984/40; UN Doc. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1984/SR.3, pp. 2–4, E/CN.4/Sub.2/1984/SR.4