Herero and Nama genocide

The Herero and Nama genocide, or the Namibian genocide, was the extermination of the Herero and the Nama people in German South West Africa (now Namibia) perpetrated by the German Empire between 1904 and 1908. Around 40,000 to 80,000 Hereros (80 percent of their pre-war population) and 10,000 Nama (half of their pre-war population) died.

Facing the consolidation of German rule and attempts to subjugate Africans into a subordinate labor reserve, Herero chief Samuel Maharero launched a surprise uprising on 12 January 1904. Initially, the Herero uprising was a success, although colonists were enraged at being defeated by a people they considered inferior. After reinforcements arrived from Germany, the Herero were surrounded and routed at the Battle of Waterberg in August.

During the following months, they fled into the Omaheke Desert where a majority died from thirst, starvation, or small-scale German massacres. German commander Lothar von Trotha ordered the execution of all Herero men, but in practice, women and children were also killed. Kaiser Wilhelm II ordered Trotha to abolish the expulsion and extermination policy which led to the incarceration of all Herero people in concentration camps, where around half of those captured died due to disease, malnourishment and overwork.

The Nama initially fought alongside the Germans, including against the Herero at Waterberg. However, they revolted against the Germans in September 1904, which lasted until 1908. On 22 April 1905, limited by Wilhelm's veto on his earlier expulsion and extermination policy against the Herero, Trotha introduced a new policy that gave Nama the option of surrender and incarceration instead of execution.

In 2015, Germany acknowledged that a genocide had been committed. Later negotiations with the Namibian government led to a controversial deal in 2021, according to which Germany would pay out 1.1 billion euros (US$1.3 billion) in the form of ex gratia development aid, while rejecting any legal responsibility for the genocide.