Skulls of Colonial Victims Returned to Namibia

[marmar]

from Der Spiegel:



Germany revisits the dark chapter of its brief colonial history this week with the return of 20 skulls belonging to genocide victims in a former colony. A Namibian delegation is in Berlin to take home the remains of those killed more than a century ago. This could be just the beginning of such reconciliations.

The skulls of 20 indigenous Namibians killed more than a century ago are set to be handed over to a delegation from the African country in Berlin this week -- and the solemn ceremony could be the first of many as Germany reflects on its colonial past.

After exhaustive research into their origins, the skulls -- 11 from members of the Nama tribe and nine from the Herero people -- will be returned to Namibia, which was known as German South West Africa from 1884 to 1919.

The Namibian embassy in Berlin will hold a memorial service led by the head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia, Bishop Zephania Kameeta, at St. Matthew's Church on Thursday. The next day the official handover of the remains will take place at the Charité Hospital, where they have been stored at the Berlin Medical Historical Museum . ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,788601,00.html

[ZombieHorde]

1. Why would they be interested in skulls? Do they want to study them,

or is this some weird religious thing? The skulls are over 100-years-old, they could belong to anyone, and no one would know the difference.

I understand the ceremony, but why even have the skulls? Were the skulls trophies?

[Lithos]

2. The article explains it

In October 1904, the German commander in Namibia, General Lothar von Trotha, gave his infamous order to kill any Herero, armed or not, found within the limits of German colonial territory. The skulls in Berlin, which mostly came from Herero who had died in prison camps, were sent back to Germany for supposed scientific studies aimed at underpinning the doctrine of racial superiority of Europeans over Africans.

[applegrove]

3. I think the herero went from being the biggest ethnic group in Namibia to one of the smallest. Talk

about what happens when the world ignores genocide.