The Namibian Holocaust: Genocide Ignored, History Repeated, yet Reparations Denied

According to eminent scholars, “[t]he term genocide was coined in 1944 by Polish law professor Raphael Lemkin, who combined the Greek genos (race or tribe) with the Latin cide (killing). Although the term is modern, the underlying acts are not.” In fact, although the most famous modern genocide is arguably the Jewish Holocaust of World War II, it was not the only genocide of the Twentieth Century, and, the Namibian Holocaust of World War I that went unchecked and unpunished lead to the climate, ideology and environment that contributed in great part to the genocide of the Jews during World War II. “The Namibian Holocaust laid . . . the ground work for the Nazi Holocaust.” For example, akin to the scientists of Nazi Germany, who engaged in horrific experiments, during the Namibian Holocaust, German officials corralled the Namibian people into labor camps and then used the bones and skulls of the massacred Namibians in an attempt to “prove the racial inferiority of black people.” “Such racial ideology became a mainstay of Nazi ideology and discriminatory practices.” Nonetheless, “the [Namibian] genocide . . . [is] hardly mentioned or discussed,” and, unlike the Jewish Holocaust, the German education system ignores the Namibian Genocide. Shockingly, even Pope Francis willfully ignored or failed to acknowledge the Namibian Holocaust.

To be sure, the notion that genocide is a crime to be punished by civilized peoples directly evolves from the idea that there are certain inherent crimes against humanity. Early in the Twentieth Century, the drafters of the Convention (IV) Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land and its annex: “Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land recognized that the conduct of men and nations, whether during times of peace or war, must be subject to circumscribed by customary law, “laws of humanity” and public conscience.” This Essay will analyze the atrocities committed by Germany in Namibia and examine whether Germany’s conduct was unlawful under international law.

This Essay will analyze the atrocities committed by Germany in Namibia and examine whether Germany’s conduct was unlawful under international law.