Reactive remembrance: The political struggle over apologies and reparations between Germany and Namibia for the Herero genocide

Abstract

States are under increasing normative pressure to acknowledge and atone for past human rights violations. However, more than one hundred years after German colonial authorities committed genocide against the Herero and Nama people in today’s Namibia, the German government has neither issued an official government apology nor paid reparations. This article traces the shifting memory politics in Germany based on parliamentary records, speeches, diplomatic actions, and media accounts. The German government has made incomplete progress toward apologetic remembrance over four separate time periods punctuated by critical diplomatic events. Germany has engaged in reactive remembrance, in which only Namibian demands for engagement coupled with German inaction or diplomatic missteps increased pressure on the government to shift toward apologetic remembrance. The research suggests that activists who seek accountability for past atrocities face formidable challenges even in consolidated democracies.