The case of Namibia and Germany and healing of the colonial harms done is a complex and fascinating one. 

It was not until 2015 that the German government officially used the word "genocide" to describe what had happened to the Ovaherero and Nama people in the years 1904 to 1908. The term was also used in the draft joint declaration of the Namibian and German governments that was agreed upon in a preliminary way in 2021. However the language there showed some hedging: “The German Government acknowledges that the abominable atrocities committed during periods of the colonial war culminated in events that, from today’s perspective, would be called genocide.” That phrase "from today's perspective" implies some level of excuse-making for the perpetrators of the genocide.

As a politically relevant side-note, some oppose the use of the word "genocide" to refer to Germans' colonial history in Africa and oppose any kind of connections being drawn between German tactics there and what subsequently took place in the Holocaust. Such connections are seen as a "levelling" that does not take seriously enough placing the Holocaust/Shoah in its own category of horror, one that cannot be compared to anything else. This "politics of memory" that has taken hold so forcefully in Germany has been one of many bumps in the road toward Germany recognizing the full harms of its colonial past.

Those harms were perpetrated over decades, but culminated in 1904-1908, in response to a revolt of the Ovaherero and Nama people to colonial rule. The revolt was crushed, and the people were forced into concentration camps or driven into the Omaheke desert, to die of thirst. By 1908, 80% of the Ovaherero and 50% of the Nama had died. Famously, the German

Thousands of acres of land (and countless cattle) were taken from the indigenous communities and given to German settlers. Even today, “German Namibians make up 2 percent of Namibia’s 2.5 million population but own about 70 percent of the country’s land” (Shola Lawal, Al-Jazeera, Dec 2023). Germany economically exploited the land and its people in other ways as well, particularly once it discovered diamonds there in 1908.

Demands for reparation include a 2017 case brought by descendants of the genocide victims to the U.S. court system, filing a class action lawsuit and invoking the Alien Tort Statute of 1789. That effort failed. Previously, in 2016, the group "Restorative Justice after Genocide" held public protests in Berlin demanding restorations. This group included Herero and Nama representatives as well as German activists.

But most significant (and controversial) have been the meetings between representatives of the Namibian and German governments that led to the draft declaration of 2021 mentioned above. While claiming to have included Ovaherero and Nama representatives, these were not recognized by the relevant communities as leaders who represent their interests. The political divisions in Namibia have complicated matters. Furthermore, the German government has explicitly refused to accept any legal obligation to Namibia or to those impacted by the genocide and has also refused the language of “reparations,” preferring instead to frame everything in “voluntary” terms. Many activist groups associated with the Ovaherero and Nama have protested the agreement and have filed suit in Namibia to prevent Namibia from receiving the promised funds from Germany.

These funds – around one billion euros over thirty years – pale in comparison to the money Germany has given to Israel in recognition of the harms of the Holocaust or the money it has put towards remembrance and memorial of Holocaust victims.

It is unclear how this agreement will fare, but the Ovaherero and Nama people continue to seek international attention to and recognition of the historical harms of colonialism and seek to redress the significant gaps in the language of the draft agreement as well as its terms.