Reiterdenkmal, Windhoek
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The Equestrian Monument, more commonly known under its
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
original name Reiterdenkmal and the name Südwester Reiter (''Rider of South West''), was a monument in
Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...
, the capital of
Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
. It was inaugurated on 27 January 1912, the birthday of
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
emperor
Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until his abdication on 9 November 1918. Despite strengthening the German Empir ...
. The monument honoured the soldiers and civilians that died on the German side of the Herero and Namaqua War of 1904–1907, a situation that caused controversy about its role in a democratic Namibia that has shed its colonial occupation and gained independence. The monument was unmounted in 2009 at its original location opposite the Christuskirche in central Windhoek, and in 2010 re-erected a few metres away in front of the
Alte Feste The Alte Feste (Old Fortress) is a fortress and museum in downtown Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. The building was designed by captain Curt von François to serve as headquarters of the imperial German ''Schutztruppe'' (colonial military fo ...
. After public controversy did not cease it was removed altogether in 2013. The bronze statue is currently in storage in the courtyard of the Alte Feste.


Creation and erection

The Reiterdenkmal was financed privately and designed by Berlin sculptor Adolf Kürle. The equestrian statue is tall and made from bronze. It was created in Berlin and shipped to
German South West Africa German South West Africa (german: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. With a total area of ...
in 1911. After its arrival in
Swakopmund Swakopmund (german: Mouth of the Swakop) is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo administrative district. The town has 44,725 inhabitants and covers ...
, it was transported by train to Windhoek. The plinth is tall and consists of approximately 180 granite rocks from
Okahandja Okahandja is a city of 24,100 inhabitants in Otjozondjupa Region, central Namibia, and the district capital of the Okahandja electoral constituency. It is known as the ''Garden Town of Namibia''. It is located 70 km north of Windhoek on the ...
. It has a plaque mounted on it that remembers the German soldiers and civilians that died in the Herero and Namaqua War of 1904–1907, as well as in the
Kalahari Expedition The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coastal de ...
in 1908. The translation of the inscription is:
Remembering and honouring the brave German warriors that died for emperor and empire to save and protect this land during the Herero and Hottentot uprisings between 1903 and 1907, and during the Kalahari Expedition in 1908. Also remembering and honouring German citizens that died from the hands of the indigenous. Fallen, missing, died from accident, succumbed to their injuries or sickness: Of the Protection Force: 100 officers, 254 non-commissioned officers, 1180 soldiers, of the marine: 7 officers, 13 non-commissioned officers, 27 seamen. Killed during the uprising: 119 men, 4 women, 1 child.
German South West African Governor
Theodor Seitz Theodor Seitz (Mannheim, 12 September 1863 – Baden-Baden, 28 March 1949) was a German colonial governor. He studied law at the University of Heidelberg. He entered in the service of the Foreign Office and became on 9 May 1907 Imperial Governor o ...
inaugurated the monument on the 53rd birthday of
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...
emperor
Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor (german: Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from 15 June 1888 until his abdication on 9 November 1918. Despite strengthening the German Empir ...
on 27 January 1912. Although the monument is unusual in that it displays a
corporal Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. The word is derived from the medieval Italian phrase ("head of a body"). The rank is usually the lowest ranking non ...
on horseback, Namibian historian Andreas Vogt incorrectly claimed that nowhere else in the world is an ordinary soldier sculpted in that manner and that the honour of being displayed on a horse is only extended to "highest nobility like emperors, kings and princes". German historian Joachim Zeller points out that traditionally equestrian statues symbolise imperial rule and power, and that this is how the function of the Reiterdenkmal has to be interpreted.


Status

The monument was erected not only to remember the dead but also was intended to serve as symbol of victory and a claim to rightful possession of South West African land. Elke Zuern, Professor of Politics at
Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Supervision system, Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sara ...
, writes:
"Memorials and commemorations offer stylized presentations of the past. ..They can also have profound political meaning by visibly presenting victor’s justice and offering a warning to those who might continue to resist. The Equestrian Monument in Windhoek served exactly this function. Standing next to the German colonial fort and on the site of a wartime concentration camp, it was erected by the German colonial masters as a symbol of the longevity of their rule."
That political function of the Reiterdenkmal became obsolete within three years.
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
broke out, and in 1915 German South West Africa was overrun and the ''
Schutztruppe (, Protection Force) was the official name of the colonial troops in the African territories of the German colonial empire from the late 19th century to 1918. Similar to other colonial armies, the consisted of volunteer European commissioned ...
'' surrendered. Germany lost all of its colonies after the war. Between the two World Wars, the German war graveyard at Waterberg and the Reiterdenkmal were the two most important sites for war remembrance and mourning celebrations of the German minority in
South West Africa South West Africa ( af, Suidwes-Afrika; german: Südwestafrika; nl, Zuidwest-Afrika) was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990, after which it became modern-day Namibia. It bordered Angola (Portuguese colony before 1 ...
. The monument also served as brand for German rule in Africa and was used for propaganda during the
Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. Books and movies featured pictures of it. In 1969, during the
Apartheid era Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
, it was declared a national monument by the South African administration.


Controversies

The Reiterdenkmal has long been controversial. Its continued display of German superiority, as well as its one-sided reporting on the deaths in the first decade of the 20th century although
Herero Herero may refer to: * Herero people, a people belonging to the Bantu group, with about 240,000 members alive today * Herero language, a language of the Bantu family (Niger-Congo group) * Herero and Namaqua Genocide * Herero chat, a species of b ...
and
Damara people The Damara, plural Damaran (Khoekhoegowab: ǂNūkhoen, ''Black people'', german: Bergdamara, referring to their extended stay in hilly and mountainous sites, also called at various times the Daman or the Damaqua) are an ethnic group who make ...
lost fifty times as many lives as the Germans during the Herero and Namaqua War, have attracted critical commentary, particularly since the 1980s. In 1959, a few days after the
Old Location The Old Location (or as it was known then the Main Location) was an area Apartheid, segregated for Black residents of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. It was situated in the area between today's suburbs of Hochland Park and Pioneers Park. Histor ...
Uprising in which 11 people were killed, unknown Herero activists covered the rider's head with a linen bag and decorated the rest of the statue with flowers as a "protest against the atrocities of the white South African minority regime". After Namibia gained independence in 1990, white citizens of German descent feared that the statue would be destroyed, but that was not a priority of the
SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...
government, which preferred to build its own memorial sites to remember the independence struggle. Several other actions demonstrating the controversies around the monuments were performed in 2008. In July, 51 wooden crosses were erected around the statue, bearing names and expressions in
Otjiherero Herero (, ''Otjiherero'') is a Bantu language spoken by the Herero and Mbanderu peoples in Namibia and Botswana, as well as by small communities of people in southwestern Angola. There were 211,700 speakers in 2014. Distribution Its linguist ...
, and in October, a Namibian flag was inserted into the rider's rifle barrel. Each action caused the discussion about status and justification of a monument glorifying German colonialism to flare up again in the local media. In 2001, the
Cabinet of Namibia The Cabinet of Namibia is an appointed body that was established by Chapter 6 (Articles 35-42) of the Constitution of Namibia. It is mandated to include the following positions: the President of Namibia, the Prime Minister of Namibia and any pos ...
unanimously decided to build an Independence Museum at the site opposite the Christuskirche, at the place the Equestrian Monument stood. The removal of the statue was explicitly endorsed. In 2009 construction of the museum began, the monument was wrapped, disassembled, and stored at a warehouse. The storage place was kept secret to avoid attracting vandals and memorabilia collectors. Private donors financed the move, as it was feared that the statue would otherwise be destroyed. In 2010, the monument was re-erected in front of the
Alte Feste The Alte Feste (Old Fortress) is a fortress and museum in downtown Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. The building was designed by captain Curt von François to serve as headquarters of the imperial German ''Schutztruppe'' (colonial military fo ...
, but discussions on its role in an independent Namibia did not cease. The National Heritage Council advertised the suggested deproclamation as National Monument on 20 December 2013 and gave the public 60 days to register objections. Only a few days into the period, on 25 December 2013, the area in front of Alte Feste was cordoned off to prevent the public and the press from getting too close. Police Inspector-General Sebastian Ndeitunga confirmed that it was to be removed again, and the statue was lifted off its plinth in the evening of the same day and transported into the yard of Alte Feste for storage.


References

{{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1911 Buildings and structures in Windhoek Equestrian statues in Namibia German-Namibian culture German South West Africa Germany–Namibia relations National Monuments of Namibia