In today's plenary session, the German Bundestag will debate the full recognition of the German genocides against the OvaHerero and Nama in what is now Namibia from 1904 to 1908. These genocides were the first of the twentieth century.
Two representatives each of the Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA) and the Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA), the two principal representative organisations of these peoples, will attend the plenary debate at the invitation of the parliamentary group Die Linke (Left Party). The parliamentary motion was drafted by the group in direct consultation with the OTA and NTLA. Since 2015, the German government has been negotiating a so-called reconciliation agreement with the Namibian government. The affected communities themselves have been excluded from the outset. The agreement provides neither full recognition of the genocide, nor an apology, nor reparations to the descendants – only the payment of a "reconstruction fund" to the Namibian government.
The associations of those affected have largely rejected the outcomes of these negotiations as immoral and unlawful.
Paramount Chief Mutjinde Katjiua, head of the Ovaherero Traditional Authority:
„Germany now faces a clear choice: to perpetuate injustice or to uphold human dignity through full recognition of the OvaHerero and Nama genocides, and meaningful reparative action.“
Gaob Daniel Timotheus Frederick, member of the Nama Traditional Leaders Association:
"Germany's actions in Namibia today reveal colonial continuity. Where Germans once took our land for cattle and diamonds, they now take our resources to fuel their energy hunger. But there can be no just economy without Indigenous justice."
Dr Julia Manek, Southern Africa programme officer, medico international, for No Amnesty on Genocide:
"What would be a trifle for the self-proclaimed world champion of remembrance and the third-largest economy in the world would, for the descendants of the survivors, mean the repair of their dignity and livelihoods: The Bundestag must vote for full recognition of the genocide – together with an apology with legal consequences for compensation and the direct participation of the OvaHerero and Nama."
Charlotte Neuhäuser (MP), spokesperson on Global Justice, Die Linke parliamentary group:
Because the descendants of the victims are still demanding justice today – and have been systematically excluded from the reparations negotiations by both governments – our motion, tabled in the Bundestag, gives the OvaHerero and Nama a loud voice. Drafted in close collaboration with the communities, it carries their demands – from Namibia and from the diaspora – into the heart of German democracy.
Historical background
Between 1904 and 1908, the German Empire waged wars of extermination against the OvaHerero and Nama in the colony of "German South West Africa". Against both peoples, Lieutenant General Lothar von Trotha issued written extermination orders, as a result of which around 80 per cent of the OvaHerero and about half of the Nama were killed. Concentration camps such as Shark Island and forced labour were part of this campaign of annihilation. Members of the Damara and San peoples also fell victim to these first genocides of the twentieth century.
The consequences persist to this day: The descendants of the surviving Nama, OvaHerero, Damara and San are struggling not only with the transgenerational poverty into which they were forced, while a small minority of white – especially German-speaking – settler descendants in Namibia continues to own around 70 per cent of agricultural land; they also have to contend with German-nationalist settler associations with ties to the AfD.
About the alliance
The transnational alliance "No Amnesty on Genocide! / Völkermord verjährt nicht!" has campaigned for recognition, apology and reparation since its founding in 2011, on the occasion of the first repatriation of human remains that had been taken to Germany for racist research purposes.
Notes for editors
Instagram: No Amnesty on Genocide (@verjaehrtnicht)
Webseite: http://genocide-namibia.net/en/main/
Photo protest: 14.10.2026, 14.00, Friedrich-Ebert-Platz 2, 10117 Berlin
Debate in the Bundestag: 14.10.2026, 20.15 Uhr (the agenda is changing continuosly, please check back regularly about the current schedule)
Exhibition: Fractured Lifeworlds, Spore Initiative Berlin
Report: “How (not) to apologize”
Policy paper: “Repairing the irreparable?”
Argumentation guide: „Reparationsen for the genocide für den Genozid in Namibia?“
