Resistance, Remembrance, Postcolonialism
The resistance of indigenous populations against foreign rule by colonisers led to violent conflicts and wars – even genocide. At the beginning of the 20th century, the German Empire fought two major colonial wars: against the Herero and Nama in German South West Africa (1904–1908), now Namibia, and the Maji Maji War in German East Africa (1905–1907), now Tanzania. Soldiers from Westphalia also took part in the genocide of the Herero and Nama, which Germany has only recognised as such in recent years.
Not all Germans were supporters of colonial policy. The first associations of the African diaspora, such as the African Aid Association, were formed in the Weimar Republic. In Dortmund and the surrounding area, workers' associations held anti-colonial events and demonstrations of solidarity.
Samuel Maharero
(1856–1923)
Samuel Maharero
Samuel Maharero was a leader of the Herero people during the war in German South West Africa in 1904. The Herero fought back against the increasing restriction of their living space and the ongoing humiliation by the Germans. The German Empire responded with disproportionate brutality. Lieutenant General Lothar von Trotha called for the genocide of the Herero. Maharero was able to flee with approximately 1,500 other Herero to the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, now Botswana. He remained the leader of the exiled Herero until his death in 1923.
Samuel Maherero was born in 1856, the son of a traditional Herero leader. He was one of the first pupils at the Augustineum in Otjimbingwe. The school was founded in 1866 by missionary Carl Hugo Hahn and financed by, among others, Princess Elisabeth of Lippe.
In order to retain power after his father's death in 1890, he agreed to cooperate with the commander of the Imperial Protection Force, Theodor Leutwein.
In 1904, he led the Herero in resistance against the Germans. A bounty of 5,000 marks was placed on his head. Maherero fled to Bechuanaland.
Maherero died in Serowe in Bechuanaland in 1923. His body was transferred to South West Africa and ceremonially buried in Okahandja.
In 2002, he was honoured as one of nine national heroes with a memorial stone at Heroes' Acre, a large war memorial complex near Windhoek.
Did you know that...
the funeral service for Samuel Maherero in Okahandja on 26 August 1923 was conducted by Heinrich Vedder, a missionary from Enger in East Westphalia? To this day, this day is celebrated as Herero Day.
