A Forgotten Genocide and 'Good Hair'

Does anyone know about the first genocide of the 20th century? I’ll give you a hint. It was committed by Germany. No, it wasn’t the Holocaust. It was the genocide of the Herero people in Namibia, from 1904-1908. In just a few short years, the Herero population went from 80,000 to 15,000.

We talked about the Herero genocide in history today. We watched a documentary, had a guest speaker from the Herero tribe, and visited the Alte Feste Museum in downtown Windhoek. It was kind of a shocking experience to learn about this genocide that has been largely forgotten throughout history. I’d heard about this genocide before, but never really knew any details. According to the documentary we watched, the genocide has been “wiped from the official memory of Namibia.” It was a difficult event to try to process during class. This genocide is not included in the educational curriculum in Namibia and although is a monument in Germany, the only monuments related to this event in Namibia commemorate the German military. The agenda of ethnic cleansing against the Hereros led to terrible actions taken by the German military. Hereros were forced into concentration camps in Windhoek and Swakopmund where thousands of people were worked to death. Others were forced into the vast Kalahari, and the limited water sources were poisoned in an attempt to further eliminate the Hereros.

The Alte Feste Museum is on the site of the German fort that originally overlooked Windhoek, and the site of one of the concentration camps. However, at the museum there was only one small room that was related to the genocide and a statue of a German soldier is just outside. Other parts of the museum are dedicated to Robben Island, the Namibian independence movement and elections, and German colonial life. It’s so bizarre that this genocide has been mostly wiped out of the public memory and history of Namibia. In 2004 Germany made a public apology for the actions of one of the first German generals, but not for the genocidal actions that occurred after this general left. The Herero are still advocating for a German apology for all the genocidal actions, and for the term “genocide” to be applied to these events.

It was so frustrating to learn about this, because there is limited scholarly information on the Herero Genocide. For a brief time I considered what it would be like to study this genocide for a history capstone, but it’s just not possible to even thing about. I’m sure there’s not information about this genocide outside of Namibia and possible Germany, and there’s not even much within Namibia. How is this genocide ever going to be processed by the Herero people if there is no information about it? The documentary we watched showed videos of people riding quad bikes in Swakopmund over the place where the dead from the concentration camps were buried. There is no awareness about this genocide, it’s been just completely wiped out. I just can’t get over the fact that so many people died because the Germans wanted easier access to land, but there is such a serious lack of knowledge.


Tonight, several of us went to the American Cultural Center to watch the movie “Good Hair,” being shown as part of their series for Black History Month. It’s always kind of nice to go to the U.S. embassy, or in this case, the American Cultural Center, because I know that I’m going to be able to easily understand the speakers, and I know that things are going to operate on a time schedule I’m used to (instead of “African time”). It’s just kind of a nice break from the constant cultural differences I’m thrown into here. Anyways, the movie examines the black hair industry, from relaxers to weaves to the hair sacrifices in India. It was fascinating to learn about all these aspects of hair that I had never thought about before. After the movie, there was a discussion with the audience about what they thought. The discussion got very emotional for many of the women, as they expressed their feelings of being judged for if they chose to wear their “natural” or “unnatural” hair textures. It brought up all sorts of other issues about what women do to themselves to make themselves attractive or acceptable to their community. It was definitely a good discussion.