Luderitz, Shark Island , Annual Memorial and Reparations Walk in (23. 04. 2023)

 

 

Press Statement on

Annual Memorial and Reparations Walk at Luderitz, Shark Island

Issued on 19 April 2023

 

During the genocides from 1904 to 1908, the German Colonial forces exterminated over 80% of the Ovaherero and over 50% of the Nama people in present day Namibia. The descendants of the survivors are seeking restorative justice to this date. This press statement serves to inform the public that the Ovaherero Traditional Authority, through Paramount Chief, Professor Mutjinde Katjiua and Chairperson of the Nama Traditional Leaders Association, Gaob Johannes Isaack, have decided to hold the Annual Memorial and Reparations Walk in Luderitz, Shark Island from 21- 23 April 2023. It is crucial to create public awareness about the Ovaherero and Nama genocides, as well as the history of Shark Island Concentration Camp in order to foster restorative justice and reconciliation. The programme of a three day event in Luderitz includes the following: • Lecture series on the history of the genocides; • Traditional gala dinner; • Genocide memorial walk through the town; • Memorial Service and Vigil at Shark Island; • The unveiling of a tombstone in remembrance of the victims; and • Various keynotes addresses and updates on the Restorative Justice Campaign. Shark Island is an island off the coast of Namibia’s southern harbor town of Lüderitz. During the period 1904 to 1908, the site morphed into a deadly concentration camp, where numerous OvaHerero and Nama prisoners were incarcerated, raped and decapitated. There were other concentration camps in Windhoek, Swakopmund, Okahandja and Karibib, as well as holding camps in many places in Hereroland and Namaqualand during the German colonial period, but Shark Island was the most lethal, most barbaric and the most feared by the victims of the genocide. Gaob Johannes Isaack Chief of /Hai-/Khaua Traditional Authority Chairperson - Nama Traditional Leaders Association Berseba, Namibia Omabara Otjitambi Paramount Chief, Prof Mutjinde Katjiua Deputy Chair: Genocide Reparation Ovaherero Traditional Authority Windhoek, Namibia During the period 1904 to 1905, the Nama and Ovaherero people intensified their resistance against German foreign occupation. A war that ensued from 1904 between the Ovaherero and German troops, resulted in the extermination order issued by the German General Lothar Von Trotha in 1904. The same fate followed the Nama people from early 1905, when Von Trotha again issued the extermination order against the Nama people in 1905. The OvaHerero and Nama who survived the fatal extermination orders of Ozombu zOvindimba and Gibeon, were lured by the missionaries of the Rhenisch Mission Society to collection points, under the pretense that they would be safe from any further harm by the military troops. The Missionary collection points served as a transit before handing over the unsuspecting OvaHerero and Nama people to the military forces, to be transported to concentration camps, Shark Island being one of them. Shark Island Concentration Camp started taking in Ovaherero victims as early as June 1904, and became fully operational by the beginning of 1905. Between November 1905 and September 1906, the 139 people under Nama leader Samuel Isaak were brought from the Gibeon area, while 422 led by Cornelius Frederick from Bethanie and 1700 Witbooi and Velschoendrgaers were brought (Casper Erichsen: The Angel of Death: 110). The Ovaherero inmates on Island were over a thousand by September 1906, excluding the deceased. Of about 4000 OvaHerero and Nama people incarcerated at Shark Island, only 30% survived when the camp was closed in 1908. The suffering our people had to endure whilst at the Island, was inhumanely despicable. There are accounts about how prisoners were starved, raped and flogged while blood flowed down their faces from open wounds. They had to dig graves and carry the corpse for their loved once when they died. The women and children were forced to scrape the skulls of decapitated bodies, removing brains, hair and eyes from the skulls for racist scientific experimentation. Currently, there exists no sign on Shark Island of the cruelties of German Colonial history. Today, Shark Island is a tourist destination, hardly telling the story of what really happened there 115 to 119 years ago. Rather it glorifies German personalities that are connected to the dark history of this island. The symbolic tombstone of Cornelius Frederick is the only memorial that is directly connected to the crime against humanity Germany had committed. The purpose of erecting a memorial tombstone is to address this discrepancy so that it does justice to its historical meaning. It will be dedicated to mourn all the victims of genocide, who suffered immensely, worked themselves to death, and were exposed to incessant rape, scraping of skulls and deadly racist scientific experiments. The families and descendants of the victims need to honour their family members, their descendants, and find healing in the process. The memorial tombstone envisaged by the NTLA and OTA wishes to achieve just that, to create a space for mourning, grieving and seeking healing. For further enquiries, please contact Mr. Nandi Mazeingo, Chairperson of the Ovahehero Genocide Foundation at +264814655780 or Mr. Maboss Ortmann of the NTLA Genocide Technical Committee at +264814381393

Urheberrecht:

Gaob Johannes Isaack Chief of /Hai-/Khaua Traditional Authority Chairperson - Nama Traditional Leaders Association Berseba, Namibia