NAMIBIA: THE PRICE OF GENOCIDE
Al
Jazeera | 25min
Postproduction script
|
T/C |
Description of scene |
Sync/nat sound or
interview etc |
|
00:00:00:00- 00:00:24:11 |
Jephta Nguherimo at graves
in desert near Swakopmund |
[ANW2298_26_Shattered-Darkness-2.wav
00:00:05:15 - 00:01:44:21] [Jephta Nguherimo] sync ...That’s the Namib desert. The sand will come and bury everything.
But for some reason the sand, the dunes, refuse to bury these people because
their spirits are strong and they want their story to be told. |
|
00:00:24:11- 00:00:34:17 |
Drone image of Jephta walking in front of graves |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync We are in the Swakopmund cemetery, |
|
00:00:34:17- 00:01:14:22 |
[HEREROS Historical.MXF] Archive footage of Herero
and San victims of genocide, German colonial troops |
COMM: In this desert and across Namibia, between 1904 and 1908, German
colonial forces displaced and killed up to 80 per cent of the Herero tribe –
some 80,000 people. Other ethnic groups like the Nama and the San also
suffered grievously at the hands of the colonists. 10,000 Nama died, half
their population, as well as an unknown number of San. This was the first genocide of the twentieth century but by no means
the last. |
|
00:01:14:22- 00:01:26:18 |
[RTV-Holocaust-Memorial-Day-Clip2,
4 , 6.mp4] Archive of Auschwitz
concentration camp |
COMM: In many ways, Imperial Germany’s treatment of the indigenous people of Namibia,
foreshadowed the barbarity of the Nazi Holocaust against the Jews and other groups during World War II. |
|
00:01:26:18- 00:01:40:08 |
[Jephta Nguherimo, co-founder, OvaHerero,
Ovambanderu and Nama Genocide Institute] [Herero_and_Nama_prisoners.jpeg,
CONCENTRATION CAMP TRAIN_02.jpg.webp] Archive of Herero and Nama
prisoners, train transporting prisoners to concentration camp |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync The concentration camps were really that's
where almost a lot of our people perish. And through malnutrition And they basically worked them to death. |
|
00:01:40:08- 00:01:52:06 |
Jephta in desert |
COMM: 02 Herero activist Jefta Nguherimo
(goo-hair-remo) has spent most of his adult life
fighting for international acknowledgement of the genocide and restitution
for the descendents of the victims. |
|
00:01:52:06 -00:02:04:23 |
Drone shot of Jephta in desert |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync I joined this struggle based on the stories that I recall, my grandmother told me. And then
when I started as an adult, I started learning more and learning more. And ever since I have never rested, |
|
00:02:04:23- 00:02:17:14 |
Memorial to victims [AFP-TV_20210528_POL_DEU_DiplomacyColonialism_9AX4V2_en.mp4] Heiko Maas, German Foreign
Minister, addresses press conference |
COMM: Finally, this year, the activism of people like Jefta
appears to have paid off. In May the German Foreign Minister, Heiko Maas,
made a groundbreaking announcement. |
|
00:02:17:16- 00:02:40:20 |
[Heiko Maas, German Foreign Minister] Heiko Maas, German Foreign
Minister, addresses press conference [AFP-TV_20210528_POL_DEU_DiplomacyColonialism_9AX4V2_en.mp4] |
[Heiko Maas] sync "Our aim was and is to find a joint path to genuine
reconciliation in remembrance of the victims. That includes our naming the
events of the German colonial era in today's Namibia, and particularly the
atrocities between 1904 and 1908, unsparingly and without euphemisms. “We will now officially call these events what they were from today's
perspective: a genocide.” "In light of Germany's historical and moral responsibility, we
will ask Namibia and the descendants of the victims for forgiveness." |
|
00:02:40:22-00:03:00:09 |
Views of Windhoek, Namibian
parliament |
COMM: A few months later Namibia and Germany announced a draft agreement
which, say both sides, will bring closure to this dark chapter of history. If
it goes ahead Germany will formally apologise to Namibia and pay $1.1 billion
Euros in compensation, spread over 30 years. |
|
00:03:00:09-00:03:17:14 |
Archive footage of protests
against draft agreement, September 2021 [0fc1fcfe-77c2-449d-a1e7-fe66ccbb3463.MP4,
7837ffd0-8530-476c-bd46-cddbe1ec9330.MP4, 9a0620b1-960c-40cd-ad6f-c1516d547058.MP4,
VID_20210921_123022.mp4] |
COMM: 04 But, for Jefta and many other Herero, the
agreement is deeply problematic. In September, when the bill was presented to the Namibian parliament,
protestors travelled from far and near to oppose it. |
|
00:03:17:16-00:03:36:23 |
[Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) President
McHenry Venaani] speaks at protest [00262.MTS, Popular Democratic
Movement (PDM) President McHenry Venaani.MTS] |
[Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) President
McHenry Venaani] sync It's a peaceful march, but quite a very important march because it is
raising a number of issues, rejecting the 1.1 billion quantum that the
Germans wants to pay us the very same amount of money that the Germans have
already given to Namibians for the last 31 years is the same amount they want
to pay us. |
|
00:03:36:23-00:03:52:15 |
Jephta visits parliament exterior |
COMM: Jefta has travelled
from the United States, where he now lives, to campaign against the
agreement. He visits Namibia’s parliament, the site of the protest. It was
built using forced labour of captured Herero and Nama genocide survivors. |
|
00:03:52:18- 00:04:07:09 |
Jephta visits parliament exterior |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync: This is a very painful moment for me standing
on this ground and simply because this area used to be there, used to be a
concentration camp where our ancestors were kept and we're forced to work on,
as slave labour. |
|
00:04:07:09-00:04:12:19 |
Detail of memorial to
victims |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync: my grandmother used to tell me told me about
the genocide |
|
00:04:12:19-00:04:40:18 |
Archive of Herero
civilians, German colonial troops, General Lotha
von Trotha, women and children [IMG_0994.jpeg, IMG_0988.jpeg,
IMG_0996.jpeg, HEREROS Historical.MXF,
herero-women-2-554x800.jpg.webp] |
[ANW1977_02_Mourning.mp3
00:04:12:19- 00:05:47:18] COMM: It began in 1904 after the Herero and Nama
rebelled against German colonists who were aggressively seizing their land.
In response the head of the military administration of what was then German
South West Africa, General Lothar von Trotha,
issued an order to his troops to exterminate all Herero: men, women and
children. |
|
00:04:40:19- 00:05:06:04 |
Jephta at gravesite of fallen Herero fighters, drone
shot reveals him in the midst of the graves |
COMM: After defeating the Herero militarily the
Germans herded the survivors eastwards into the inhospitable Omaheke desert.
The intent: to kill them through hunger and thirst. |
|
00:04:54:01-00:05:24:15 |
Jephta visits Waterberg, site of battle between
Herero and Germans.Fireside interview with Jephta. |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync: The flight, the flight to the East and how people perish and the
disposition of their land and disposition of their cattle and all those, then
they experience in the concentration camps. So my great grandmother, my
grandmother's mother, was captured by the Germans and sent to Luderitz Shark island in the concentration camps. And from there,
they work as slave labor, some of them died and the
few who survived, basically, that's why I'm here today. |
|
00:05:24:20-00:05:27:19 |
Jephta overlooking battle site |
COMM: 07 But his grandfather’s mother was not so lucky. |
|
00:05:27:20-00:05:46:08 |
Jephta overlooking battle site |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync: And my great grandmother was too old and tired
to walk, and she was left behind. And she died under the tree. They left her
under a tree to die. And that's actually the story that really sparked my
interest is like how she died, a death without dignity. |
|
00:05:46:09- 00:05:56:24 |
Herero villagers |
COMM: Almost every Herero person has a story like this to tell. This is why Jefta is documenting Herero opposition to the agreement. |
|
00:05:57:05- 00:06:04:12 |
Drone shot of Jephta travelling on dirt road |
09 He travels from the capital Windhoek to Okahandja to meet the acting
chief of the Herero |
|
00:06:04:12- 00:06:20:12 |
Jephta driving |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync: the Heroros were sent to these remote areas to serve as a labor pool for the white 00:02:27:06 - 00:02:48:11 Unknown communities, a white industrial industrialist.
|
|
00:06:20:12- 00:06:25:21 |
Villagers at roadside |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync: the present and the past, It's
hard to distinguish business in particular in these areas |
|
00:06:25:21- 00:06:42:11 |
Jefta meets Vipuira Kapuuo |
COMM: Jefta meets Vipuira Kapuuo, currently the
acting Chief of the Ovaherero Traditional Authority, which represents most Herero
in Namibia. The chief wore his official uniform in honour of the moment. |
|
00:06:42:12- 00:07:08:13 |
[Vipuira Kapuuo, acting Chief of
the Ovaherero Traditional Authority] |
[Acting Chief Vipuira
Kapuuo] sync I have not accepted that agreement as being correct, because it’s an
agreement between the two governments. We who died during the genocide should be part of any agreement
reached but this just an agreement between two governments we haven’t
accepted it. We request that we should be part of the negotiations in this
agreements as the affected communities |
|
00:07:08:13- 00:07:22:23 |
Ruprecht Polenz interview |
COMM: We put this to Ruprecht Polenz, Germany’s
chief negotiator. He says that, under international law, such negotiations
can only take place between states, not individual groups. |
|
00:07:22:23- 00:07:41:19 |
[Ruprecht Polenz,
German Negotiator] |
[Ruprecht Polenz]
sync there are
many groups who say, unfortunately, we were not part of the negotiations. And
if I would start to count these groups, I come easily about 10, 15, 20 groups
who are complaining not to have been included |
|
00:07:41:19-00:07:53:15 |
Vipuira Kapuuo interview |
COMM: But, argues Kapuoo, after the Holocaust,
Germany did not only negotiate with the State of Israel, it also negotiated
directly with many Jewish groups. |
|
00:07:53:15-00:08:01:20 |
Vipuira Kapuuo interview |
[Acting Chief Vipuira
Kapuuo] sync 0:09:31 to 0:09:40 The German
government murdered Jews, but they sat down with them and negotiated. So why
is it that they can’t sit and negotiate with the Ovaherero
and Nama people As the people who died? |
|
00:08:01:22-00:08:16:22 |
Vipuira Kapuuo in cattle pen |
COMM: The outcome, says Kapuuo, is that the
Namibian government has failed to secure direct compensation for the Herero.
Instead the EU1.1 billion which Germany plans to pay will be administered by
the Namibian government. |
|
00:08:17:07- 00:08:50:16 |
Vipuira Kapuuo interview |
[Acting Chief Vipuira
Kapuuo] sync Now it seems like money coming is the aid that the German government
gives to Namibia and other countries. Now this is being disguised as if it’s
our reparations but that’s not the case We want this assistance to directly come to us so we use it for things
that affect us. You drove here on a gravel road. We don’t have a hospital. If
anyone gets injured or bitten by a snake than its straight to Okahandja is
where the hospital is. |
|
00:08:50:17- 00:09:08:16 |
Aerial shot of landscape, Jephta driving, Venoveni Kaure in village |
[ANW3046_05_Loss.wav 00:08:50:17- 00:09:21:05] COMM: The once prosperous Herero, having lost their
land and their much prized cattle after the genocide, now live, for the most
part, in abject poverty. Jefta visits Venoveni Kaure, who is one of
many Herero struggling to survive. |
|
00:09:08:16- 00:10:03:05 |
[Venoveni Kaure] Venoveni Kaure interview |
[Venoveni Kaure] sync: (what would) help me and my family? Oh my god! I would say employment
because if you work you can provide for your family and the kids can take
something to eat to school. The big problem is unemployment. Yes I feel bad especially now when there’s nothing to eat. Like now
school is out and the kids need to eat. The Germans should pay us, give us money, because we don’t have
animals anymore. So if you give us that little money we can buy goats and
maybe they’ll reproduce and fill the kraals. We should really just get money. |
|
00:10:03:05- 00:10:22:07 |
Venoveni and Jephta walk into
her shack, accompanied by a child |
[ANW3046_63_Loss-2.wav 00:10:03:07 - 00:10:32:17] COMM: And it’s not just Venoveni’s generation who
are suffering. Barring some kind of intervention her children are unlikely to
escape this cycle of poverty. And, making life even harder, the government
has recently decreed that they must move to an even more remote location. |
|
00:10:22:12- 00:10:35:00 |
Venoveni Kaure interview |
[Venoveni Kaure] sync We were told to remove our homes and move further away from the
school. 0:17:40 to 0:18:09 if we
remove our homes what time children will reach the school. Even if I wake up
earlier it will still take him 2 hours to get there and school will already
be in session. |
|
00:10:35:00-00:10:56:18 |
Venoveni Kaure interview |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync It's just. This too much. (It’s too emotional for me.) And what's going to happen to them taking charge like far away and the
kids? And that means the kids have to work like another two hours to school
and the kids have nothing to eat. the government has abandoned them. |
|
00:10:56:18-00:11:18:03 |
Village general view,
Swakopmund city, DRC informal settlement |
[ANW2975_007_Boma-2.wav
00:10:56:18- 00:11:27:11] COMM: And it’s not just in the
villages that poverty amongst the Herero is rife. It’s the same in urban
areas. Jefta travels to Swakopmund, a picturesque
coastal town popular with German tourists. But on the outskirts of the town,
Herero people live in bleak informal settlements. |
|
00:11:18:03-00:11:24:21 |
Jephta greets Lourens |
COMM: Jefta meets Lourens Ndura
who moved from the countryside to the city in search of a better life. |
|
00:11:24:13-00:11:33:00 |
Jephta with Lourens |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync He has been here for nine
years now. And this is where he lives. No electricity, no running water. |
|
00:11:33:01-00:11:43:14 |
Cutaways of poverty in
settlement |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync all the cattle died of drought, and so there's
no work. So the best they can come is come here, try to forage some food for
them in the city. |
|
00:11:43:14-00:11:48:05 |
Lourens enters shack |
COMM: 17 Lourens invites Jefta
into his shack. |
|
00:11:48:06-00:12:09:23 |
Lourens shows traditional
dolls |
[Lourens Ndura] sync There's the
traditional things. Producer: Are you selling those? My girlfriend is selling. Here. This is a type
of a genocide....woman |
|
00:12:09:23- 00:12:12:04 |
Close ups of dolls |
Producer: Well,
why is that a genocide woman? |
|
00:12:12:05- 00:12:21:24 |
Close ups of dolls |
COMM Lourens tells us that, to make ends meet, his
girlfriend must sell these “genocide dolls” … to German tourists. |
|
00:12:22:00- 00:12:33:22 |
Lourens Ndura
interview |
[Lourens Ndura] sync My great grandFather
was in the ... in the concentration camp. That was a Luderitz
concentration camp that the Lutherans concentration. between 1904 and 1908
Genocide. |
|
00:12:22:00- 00:12:33:22 |
Lourens Ndura
interview |
[Lourens Ndura] sync Producer: So what do you think about the
Germans today? Germans today, they have to pay for what they
do to our great grandparent because that one is the wound that take long in
our lifetime. |
|
00:12:48:18-00:12:57:05 |
Lourens Ndura
interview |
[Lourens Ndura] sync money is the only thing that can make changes.
We can buy our land back, buy our animals and then we started farming
process. |
|
00:12:57:06-00:13:06:14 |
Lourens Ndura
interview |
[Lourens Ndura] sync we live in, we feel that we're in a concentration camp.
Personal life here is not a good to us. |
|
00:13:06:18- 00:13:26:07 |
Jephta outside shack |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync The future is a revolution.
These young people over here, you see, running in the streets over here. They
will have nothing to lose but to demand their land back. And that's exactly
what's going to happen, this situation is unacceptable and is unacceptable. |
|
00:13:26:10- 00:13:42:23 |
Jephta walks away from camera, cutaways of informal
settlement |
COMM: This sense of economic and political marginalisation among the Herero
has heightened their mistrust of SWAPO, the ruling party in Namibia since
1990. It’s amplified the feeling that the government mishandled the genocide
negotiations with Germany. |
|
00:13:43:18- 00:13:51:20 |
Producer
on phone |
COMM We tried to put this to the Namibian government, but despite numerous
requests, no government official granted us an interview. |
|
00:13:51:21- 00:14:00:22 |
Prof
Kapaama reading book |
COMM We did however manage to
speak to Professor Phanuel Kaapama, one of
Namibia’s chief negotiators. He himself is Herero. |
|
00:14:00:23- 00:14:12:09 |
[Prof Phanuel Kapaama,
Namibian Negotiator] Prof
Kapaama interview |
[Prof Kapaama] sync my great grandmother was
the brother of Samuel Madero, who led the vital people during the War of
Colonial Resistance. |
|
00:14:20:21- 00:14:20:20 |
Pan
from government building to Herero monument. |
COMM The agreement, Kapaama told us, was the best the Namibian government
could achieve, given Germany’s tough negotiating tactics. |
|
00:14:20:21- 00:14:47:00 |
Prof
Kapaama interview, aerial views of Windhoek [GettyImages-Aerial
Windhoek.mov] |
[Prof Kapaama] sync 01:12:04:13 - 01:12:33:10 Unknown They have
always shied away from. Even mentioning the word genocide, But the bigger challenge
was on the quantum the amount which. It has remained a very key issue to the
point that it almost derailed. 01:11:04:19 -
01:11:36:09 Unknown Then there is no reference
to the word reparation |
|
00:14:47:04-00:15:19:08 |
[Ruprecht Polenz,
German Negotiator] [Ruprecht Polenz] interview, aerial views of Windhoek |
[Ruprecht Polenz] sync Producer: why is Germany
so allergic to this term reparations? The negotiations, in our view, have been for
political and moral reasons. They are. This was not a legal question And therefore, we avoided a legal speech to
avoid this kind of misunderstanding. Understanding and reparations is a legal
term. And therefore, we spoke about healing the wounds, which means in a
sense probably the same, but not in a legal term. |
|
00:15:19:09- 00:15:26:10 |
Prof
Kapaama looks at book |
COMM But, says Kapaama,
the negotiations were less about healing wounds than they were about avoiding
legal liability. |
|
00:15:26:22- 00:15:43:18 |
Prof
Kapaama interview |
[Prof Kapaama] sync 01:16:36:19 - 01:16:53:14 Unknown So that was a very heavy debate later on, they
came around and said to that, OK, if we agree to pay reparations, then we
will do away with development. And we said, no, those are two different
things for the victim community. |
|
00:15:43:19- 00:15:53:11 |
Henning Melber at his desk |
COMM There’s good reason why Germany is keen to
avoid any payments being labelled as reparations, says Henning Melber, a Namibian academic and activist. |
|
00:15:53:15-00:16:12:18 |
[Henning
Melber, Academic] Henning Melber interview |
[Henning Melber]
sync there were war crimes during World War two,
committed in Italy and Greece, in Poland and in other eastern European
societies. We are local court there ruled that the German government should
pay reparations to the descendants |
|
00:16:12:24-00:16:23:01 |
Henning Melber in his office |
COMM Germany has refused to accept liability for
such claims. But, says Melber, if reparations were
paid to Namibia that might set a legal
precedent. |
|
00:16:23:04- 00:16:32:20 |
Henning Melber interview |
[Henning
Melber] sync Then these
rulings would be seen in another light and then it would become really
expensive for Germany |
|
00:16:32:22- 00:16:53:21 |
Jephta driving, aerial shot of open road |
[ANW2491_13_Toxic-Files-4.wav 00:16:32:22- 00:17:13:19] COMM So, with direct reparations seemingly off the table, what about the
Herero demand that they should get their land, or at least some of it,
returned to them? But any discussion about the return of land must involve its current
owners, mostly white Namibian farmers who possess vast tracts of it. |
|
00:16:54:13- 00:17:13:10 |
Jephta meets Gerd Wolbling,
aerial of Wolbling’s farm |
COMM Jefta visits Gerd Wolbling, a German Namibian who speaks fluent Herero. He
owns a 15,000 hectare farm in the Waterberg, the region which used to be
inhabited by the Herero until the Germans began their campaign of
annihilation against them in 1904. |
|
00:17:14:03- 00:17:22:14 |
[Gerd Wolbling,
Farmer] Gerd Wolbling interview |
[Gerd Wolbling] sync
My great great
grandfather came here. in 1907, which was, uh, just after the German herero war. |
|
00:17:22:15- 00:17:32:03 |
Gerd Wolbling interview |
[Gerd Wolbling] sync I'm farming here and living in close relationship with the ovaHerero communities bordering to our fence |
|
00:17:32:04- 00:17:38:19 |
Cattle being branded |
[Gerd
Wolbling] sync So we we communicate on a daily basis. It's
very much a farming related, but of course it is. It brings together all
different cultures as well |
|
00:17:38:20- 00:17:48:05 |
Jephta and Gerd watch cattle being branded |
COMM: But when it comes to addressing the past Wolbling, like other white German Namibian farmers in the
region, deny that this land used to belong to the Herero. |
|
00:17:48:08- 00:17:59:01 |
Gerd Wolbling interview |
[Gerd Wolbling] sync this land was 100 years before that it was not
inhabited by herero speaking people to the
knowledge I do have. |
|
00:17:59:02- 00:18:02:10 |
Jephta and Gerd talk under a tree |
COMM: While touring the farm Jefta
raises the land issue. |
|
00:18:02:11- 00:18:29:16 |
Gerd Wolbling interview |
[Gerd Wolbling] sync I don't think just buying land and giving it,
giving it back will will improve the situation
dramatically. we have to develop the area, we have to
develop the people and especially the people like investing in a better
tomorrow like education and infrastructure, schools and hospitals that people
really feel that their life is improving. |
|
00:18:29:17- 00:18:34:12 |
Jephta and Gerd talk under a tree |
COMM: Jefta also wants to know if they can reach a common
understanding about the past. |
|
00:18:34:12- 00:18:53:13 |
Gerd Wolbling interview |
[Gerd Wolbling] sync Jefta:So do you deny that there was a genocide or you
don't deny it? Gerd: I mean, you I I
don't question the harm which was done to ovaherero
people. Yeah, they lost many of their land. They lost
almost all their cattle. And I know half, let's say, half of the population. |
|
00:18:53:18- 00:19:00:15 |
Jephta and Gerd tour farm |
COMM: Yet, says Wolbling,
he doesn’t believe the mass murder of Herero was sanctioned by the |
|
00:19:00:17- 00:19:16:02 |
Gerd Wolbling interview |
if there would
have been the initial thought of eradicating a certain tribe But that was not intention, and the
relationship to the Holocaust is it's for me, it is far
fetched. |
|
00:19:16:03- 00:19:39:03 |
Aerial shots of driving through desert, aerial view of Shark Island,
disused railway track |
[ANW3578_06_They-Didnt-Find-Us.mp3
00:19:11:19 -00:19:42:18] COMM But Jefta’s next
visit illustrates that for many Herero
historical links between the genocide and the Holocaust aren’t far-fetched at
all. He travels to Shark Island, which
used to be a notorious concentration camp. Herero and Nama who survived death
in the desert were brought here and used as slave labour. |
|
00:19:39:06-00:19:50:18 |
Jephta Nguherimo interview |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync this site is where our ancestors were kept. I
mean, they were transported up to 900 km from inland up to here, and the
Germans set up this concentration camp and they used to call historians, call
it the the death camp. |
|
00:19:51:00- 00:20:01:22 |
Jephta tours Shark Island |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync My great grandmother was at this site and luckily she they were later
when the people started complaining that she was transferred to Swakopmund. |
|
00:20:01:23- 00:20:06:18 |
Jephta tours Shark Island |
COMM But most of the Herero and Nama who were held here were not so lucky. |
|
00:20:06:24- 00:20:18:08 |
Jephta looks out over the sea, shots of sea |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync a lot
of lot of people perish and a lot of Nama people perish here, actually. death and starvation was what killed a lot of
people over here. And when
they die, their body were thrown in the sea |
|
00:20:18:15- 00:20:22:20 |
Transition from shot of ocean
into archive photo of Herero/Nama being held in dire conditions on Shark
Island. |
COMM and those who weren’t worked to death were subjected to other horrors. [ANW3253_004_Praying-Mantis.wav 00:20:19:16 - 00:21:33:09] |
|
00:20:23:06- 00:20:57:10 |
Jephta Nguherimo interview Archive photos of dire
conditions on Shark Island. [Screenshot
2021-10-19 at 22.55.26.png, Screenshot 2021-10-19 at 22.51.13.png] |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync And this is where they did their medical experiment on the Nama and pro-people
medical experiment. This is where mostly where they conduct the Germans.
Medical doctors came here to experiment on this, on the people who were
hosted here. They basically, I mean, there's so many things
that they have done, I mean, based on my grandmother, I mean story, she told
me they were fascinated with some of the Herero people they have like their
guns are like dogs in alleys, so they will scrape that scrape that until it
bleeds to find out what is the cause of that. I don't know what was the whole point, but the bottom line is
this was the biggest fear was to go to that medical center.
They knew that once you go there you are not going to be alive. |
|
00:20:57:18- 00:21:11:17 |
Archive of dire conditions
on Shark Island. |
COMM: In that medical centre
prisoners were subjected to many forms of systematic abuse like being
injected with diseases like smallpox, typhus and tuberculosis or poisons like
arsenic. |
|
00:21:11:18- 00:21:17:19 |
Henning Melber
interview |
[Henning Melber]
sync they were also used as human material for eugenic
research |
|
00:21:17:20- 00:21:29:23 |
View of Shark Island,
images of decapitated heads of prisoners. [Shark
Island - Severed heads.jpeg] |
COMM: In order to conduct this pseudo-scientific
research German doctors sent the skulls of deceased prisoners back to
Germany, aiming to “scientifically” prove the racial inferiority of Africans. |
|
00:21:29:24- 00:21:42:06 |
Henning Melber
interview |
[Henning Melber]
sync So thousands of human
remains, skulls, skeletons and so on were transported. Back to the German
Empire |
|
00:21:42:07-00:21:58:22 |
Henning Melber
interview, images of decapitated heads of prisoners, archive of ceremony
returning skulls to Namibia [Ericksen_Hottentotte_7_Shark_Island_p._142.jpeg,
AlJazeera_pkg-ger-namibia-dka-290818.mxf, RTV-VA8V8NWHZ-Ger-Return-Skull-Clip1.mp4] |
[Henning
Melber] sync those human remains in their thousands, in an
unknown number, in German basements, of museums, of hospitals and only in
2011, I think for the first time a few of them were returned to Namibia |
|
00:21:58:24-00:22:08:05 |
Archive photo of Eugen
Fischer |
COMM The man overseeing these inhumane practises was eugenecist
Dr Eugen Fisher. He and other colonial officials... |
|
00:22:08:06- 00:22:16:11 |
Archive photo of Eugen
Fischer, Henning Melber interview [VI_001_Fischer_Eugen_I_10.jpg,
FISCHER_03.jpeg] |
[Henning
Melber] sync …later became prominent leading figures in the race ideology of Nazi
Germany. |
|
00:22:16:14- 00:22:19:01 |
Jephta Nguherimo interview |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync 00:01:10:08 - 00:01:29:18 Unknown This is our Auschwitz |
|
00:22:19:02- 00:22:27:13 |
Disused railway tracks |
COMM: 34 But unlike at Germany’s Auschwitz there is no official recognition at
Shark Island of the crimes which were perpetrated here. |
|
00:22:27:14- 00:22:44:18 |
Jephta Nguherimo interview,
camping site sign |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync there is no mention about the Hereros at
all. So it's now a camping site... So I'm sure a lot of Germans, they come here and camp in Namibia as
they come and camp as if this is just a normal place. |
|
00:22:45:07- 00:22:51:11 |
Evening time lapse over
landscape |
[ANW3141_110_Final-Conclusion-3.wav 00:22:45:07- 00:22:58:04] COMM: So where to now for the Herero and their struggles for justice and
reparations? |
|
00:22:51:12- 00:22:55:20 |
Producer |
[Hamilton Wende] sync What do you say to German Namibians who say
there wasn't a genocide here? |
|
00:22:55:21- 00:23:02:09 |
Jephta Nguherimo interview |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync what do I say to them? Nothing. We are going to get our land back. |
|
00:23:02:10- 00:23:24:15 |
Jephta Nguherimo interview,
evening shot of landscape |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync And how is going to take it? I don't know. But
we all… I’m certain, in just the way I
was setting in that one day Germany will be willing to apologize properly
just the way it was set in the Germany one, they will pay reparation, even though they are saying we are going to give
you like a just or development, I'm
certain...things will happen. [ANW3251_02_Fragility.wav 00:23:21:21-] |
|
00:23:24:20- 00:24:00:00 |
Jephta Nguherimo interview,
aerial view of Jephta looking out over the land, Jephta walking across the landscape |
[Jephta Nguherimo] sync the Herero people are resilient people. From
what we have gone through, what people have gone through. From Genocide Disposition
Concentration Camp. And for my father and my great grandparents to reggae and
to reconstitute themselves and send me to school. And. They walk straight. They didn't work with
your head down, and so that's the way I'm going to walk. I walk straight with
my head up |
|
|
|
ENDS |