The Herero and Nama Genocide, the Holocaust, and the Query of German Reparations
Germany’s long-repressed colonial previous has lastly come to preoccupy its worldwide relations and home affairs. Whether or not within the controversies concerning the often-dubiously acquired artefacts in its museums ( Raubkunst ), just like the so-called Benin Bronzes (which aren’t all bronze), or consideration to the genocides dedicated by Imperial German forces in African colonies earlier than the First World Struggle, German federal authorities and establishments are confronting colonial legacies that they’ve lengthy denied. Sustained advocacy has a lot to do with the newfound and charged diplomatic significance of those points. Inside Germany activists of color, specifically, have pressured the orthodoxies of German reminiscence tradition by protesting to alter road names, to decolonize German museums, and for Germany to pay reparations for the Herero and Nama genocide – to call three important points. This activism extends past Germany, to former colonies resembling Cameroon a...