Herero

Otto ottosell at yahoo.de
Tue Aug 3 12:15:28 CDT 2004


Richard, I always call German Colonialism the third Great Myth*
we Germans have cultivated after WW2.

It begins with the fact that we Germans only took our share of the colonies,
that Germany has been the same type of imperialist colonial power than the
others, the USA included. Then you will be told that "our" colonial regime
has been much better than the British, French, Dutch or (especially)
Belgian. You will be reminded that even today there are still black Africans
proud of their German names and their duty for Kaiser Bill.

I've seen websites interested in colonialism that deny the fact that the
German atrocities have been a genocide, but you get precise figures
of how many farmers have been killed by the Herero "insurgents."

So my impression is that the average German has no idea of that holocaust
from ninety years ago. But they are all content that the Herero people won't
get any compensation for what has happened. The argument is that we aren't
the legal successor of the German Empire and that we pay most of the
development aid to Namibia.

Germany avoids Herero reparations.
Germany has rejected calls to pay compensation for the
killing of thousands of Namibia's ethnic Hereros during
the colonial era.The German ambassador to Botswana
told a gathering of Hereros in northern Botswana that
Germany deeply regretted what he called "this unfortunate
past". However, he said it was not prepared to offer reparations.
BBC, Sunday, 18 July, 2004
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3904897.stm

The interesting thing about your question is that this colonial myth has
been created in the nazi era and has outlived it. I own a book that my
father had got at his eight birthday in 1937, "Das Volksbuch unserer
Kolonien" and it tells precisely this myth.

Otto

*Myth No.1 is that the Holocaust has been committed by the Nazis, not by the
Germans in general; this myth has been refuted successfully by Daniel Jonah
Goldhagen.
 *Myth No. 2 is that the "Wehrmacht" has led an honorable fight, that war
crimes only have been committed by the SS or other special groups. This myth
has been destroyed by the "Wehrmacht"-Exhibition.
-----------------------------
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Richard Romeo
To: Otto ; Pynchon Liste
Sent: Tuesday, August 03, 2004 4:02 PM
Subject: RE: Herero

Otto-

Do you think the average German is aware of what happened to the Herero or
is it subsumed by the Nazi era in the public consciousness?

Just curious

Richard

"Deutsche Reiter in Südwest"
Faksimile of a very popular German book from 1909 on the Herero-uprising.
Some glorifying paintings:
http://www.lehrer-online.de/dyn/bin/387403-387413-1-hereroaufstand-arbeitsmaterialien.zip




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