Skulls and other remains of massacred tribespeople used in colonial-era experiments to push claims of European racial superiority were handed over by Germany to Namibia at a church ceremony in Berlin on Wednesday.

In what historians call the first genocide of the 20th century, soldiers of German Kaiser Wilhelm slaughtered some 65,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama tribespeople in a 1904-1908 campaign in retaliation for a revolt against land seizures by German colonists.

Herero chief Vekuii Rukoro said the handover ceremony on Wednesday should have taken place not in a Berlin church, but a German government building.

He also accused Germany of taking too long to formally apologise for what is often called the first genocide of the 20th century.

"By trying not to acknowledge the past, the German government will continue to make serious mistakes as regards present and future policies," Rukoro told the church audience, which included government officials from both countries.

"We are after all the direct descendants of these remains and we should not be ignored."

"By trying not to acknowledge the past, the German government will continue to make serious mistakes as regards present and future policies." Vekuii Rukoro, the chief of Herero people

A Namibian delegation formally received the remains, including 19 skulls, a scalp and bones, during the church ceremony.

Michelle Muentefering, a minister of state for international cultural policies in the German foreign ministry, asked "for forgiveness from the bottom of my heart" as she handed over the remains to Namibia's culture minister.

Several Herero women in traditional, cow-horn shaped headdress wiped away tears during the at times emotional proceedings.

"May the remains of our ancestors finally go home to Namibia in peace. May they return to the dust from which they came. May justice be done and faith in humanity be restored," said Johannes Isaack, Nama chief.

Outside the venue, some two dozen protesters held up signs that read: "Repatriation without an official apology?" and "Reparations Now!".

The German government announced in 2016 that it planned to issue an official apology for the atrocities committed by German imperial troops.

But it remains locked in talks with the Namibian government on a joint declaration on the massacres.

It has also refused to pay direct reparations, arguing instead that German development aid worth hundreds of millions of euros since Namibia's independence from South Africa in 1990 was "for the benefit of all Namibians".

Class-action lawsuit

Angered by Berlin's stance, representatives of the Herero and Nama tribes have filed a class-action lawsuit in a US court demanding reparations.

They also want a seat at the table in the discussions between the German and Namibian governments.

"They are still negotiating on an appropriate text ... for an apology. That's a big joke," Rukoro said during the service, wearing a red, military-style dress uniform.

He accused both countries of trying to sideline him and others in the handover proceedings, saying he had been told in advance "not to embarrass the two governments".

Rukoro also blasted the decision to hold the ceremony at the French Church in Berlin.

"We don't believe that it is bigger and more dignified than all the government buildings of the federal government in Berlin," he said.

Rukoro and Isaack are both plaintiffs in the US lawsuit.

The New York judge in the case has yet to rule on whether to hear the suit, which Germany wants thrown out on the grounds of state immunity from prosecution.

'Extermination order'

Incensed by German settlers stealing their land, women and cattle, the Herero revolted in 1904 and killed more than 100 German civilians over several days. The Nama people joined the uprising in 1905.

Determined to crush the rebellion, General Lothar von Trotha signed an "extermination order" that would lead to the deaths of about 60,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama people.

Many were murdered by German imperial troops while others, driven into the desert or rounded up in prison camps, died from thirst, hunger and exposure.

Dozens were beheaded after their deaths, their skulls sent to researchers in Germany for discredited "scientific" experiments that purported to prove the racial superiority of white Europeans.

In some instances, captured Herero women were made to boil the decapitated heads and scrape them clean with shards of glass.

Research carried out by German professor Eugen Fischer on the skulls and bones resulted in theories later used by the Nazis to justify the murder of Jews.

Germany has previously repatriated human remains to Namibia in 2011 and 2014.

The remains, many of which were stored on dusty shelves in universities and clinics, were "often stolen ... brought to Germany without respect for human dignity", according to the German foreign ministry.</s>A genocide by the German empire against the Ovaherero and Nama communities in what is now Namibia killed tens of thousands of people from 1904 to 1908 and around 300 of the victims' skulls were sent to Germany for experimentation, 19 of which were returned by the government on Wednesday.

At a solemn ceremony at a church in Berlin, 19 skulls, a scalp and bones were given to a Namibian government delegation, but activists campaigning for recognition of and restitution for the Herero and Namaqua genocide said this was not enough.</s>Having acknowledged what many historians consider to be the first genocide of the 20th century, Germany on Wednesday handed over human remains of Namibians that were butchered more than 100 years ago.

A Namibian government delegation received the remains at a church service in the German capital, Berlin.

There are thought to be hundreds of Namibian skulls in Germany, collected from its former colonies Namibia, Cameroon, Togo and Rwanda.

The bones had been sent to Germany for now-discredited research to prove the racial superiority of white Europeans.

Germany ruled what was then called South West Africa as a colony from 1884 to 1915.

The genocide began in 1904 after a Herero and Nama rebellion in response to the German expropriation of their land and cattle.

Herero warriors butchered 123 German civilians over several days, while the smaller Nama tribe joined the uprising in 1905.

The German occupiers responded ruthlessly, defeating the Herero in a decisive battle at Waterberg, northwest of the capital city of Windhoek, on August 11, 1904.

In October 1904 German General Lothar von Trotha, under the direct command of Kaiser Wilhelm II in Berlin, signed a notorious “extermination order” against the Herero.

“Within the German boundaries, every Herero, with or without a gun, with or without livestock, will be shot dead,” he said.

An estimated 60,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama people were killed from 1904 to 1908.

From 40 percent at the start of the 20th century, the Herero now only make up seven percent of the Namibian population.

Germany has since 2011 formally handed back dozens of the skulls, many of which were stored at universities and clinics.

Germany long refused to take the blame for the episode, only accepting responsibility on the 100th anniversary of the massacres in 2004, when the then development minister, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, said the “atrocities… would today be called genocide”.

Some historians and other officials have also termed the massacre a genocide, including then German parliamentary president, Norbert Lammert, in 2015.

The German government said in 2016 that it planned to issue a formal apology, but negotiations are still ongoing.

Herero and Nama representatives have filed a class-action suit against the German government in a US court to demand damages. The New York judge has yet to rule on whether to hear the lawsuit, which Germany wants thrown out.</s>The skulls formed part of a collection of human remains that were studied in Germany

Germany has handed back the human remains of indigenous people killed during a genocide in colonial Namibia more than 100 years ago.

A Namibian government delegation received the skulls at a church service in the capital, Berlin.

The bones had been sent to Germany for now-discredited research to prove the racial superiority of white Europeans.

Tens of thousands of Herero and Nama people were murdered in response to an anti-colonial uprising.

Photo: Members of the Namibian delegation paid their respects during the ceremony

Their descendants are still waiting for an apology from the German government.

Why was an extermination order issued?

The genocide began in 1904 after a Herero and Nama rebellion in response to the German expropriation of their land and cattle.

The head of the military administration in what was then known as German South West Africa, Lothar von Trotha, issued an extermination order in October 1904.

The Herero and Nama were forced into the desert and any who were found trying to return to their land were either killed or put into concentration camps.

There is no agreed figure of how many died but some estimates have put it as high as 100,000.

Photo: It was an emotional service at the church in Berlin

It is thought that 75% of the Herero population and half of the Nama population died.

The skulls of some of the victims were sent to Germany where racial anthropologists studied them as part of an attempt to justify a theory about the superiority of Europeans.

There are thought to be hundreds of Namibian skulls in Germany and on Wednesday more than 25 remains were handed back.

Skulls from Germany's other African colonies, including modern-day Cameroon, Tanzania, Rwanda and Togo, were also used in the discredited studies.

Will Germany say sorry?

In 2016, Germany said it was prepared to apologise in principle but it is still negotiating with the Namibian government over the form of the apology and how to deal with the legacy of the genocide.

Some of them have launched a class-action lawsuit against Germany in New York, hoping to get reparations.

Germany has argued that it has given Namibia millions of dollars in development aid to support all people in the country.

Wednesday's ceremony is the third time that remains have been handed back to Namibia, but it was hoped that this time it would be part of a true reconciliation process, reports the BBC's, Johannes Dell.

The church service included government officials from both countries

But descendants of the victims are angry that there has been no apology and no agreement of reparations. They are also unhappy that they are not part of the negotiations.

"Our two governments... are still negotiating on an appropriate text for an apology. That's a big joke. These guys are just playing when Rome is burning," Herero paramount chief Vekuii Rukoro told the service in Berlin.

The skulls will now be taken to Namibia where they will be housed in the national museum until it is decided where they will be buried.</s>Berlin will on Wednesday hand back human remains seized from Namibia a century ago after the slaughter of indigenous people under German colonial rule, but descendants are still waiting for an apology.

A Namibian government delegation will receive the remains, including 19 skulls, a scalp and bones, during a solemn church service in Berlin.

“We want to help heal the wounds from the atrocities committed by Germans at the time,” said Michelle Muentefering, a minister of state for international cultural policies in the German foreign ministry.

But representatives of descendants of the tens of thousands of Herero and Nama people massacred between 1904 and 1908 after rebelling against their colonial overlords have criticised the ceremony as insufficient.

Esther Utjiua Muinjangue, chairwoman of the Ovaherero Genocide Foundation, said the handover would have been “the perfect opportunity” for Germany to officially apologise for what is often called the first genocide of the 20th century.

“Is that asking too much? I don’t think so,” she told a Berlin press conference this week, describing the attitude of the German government as “shocking”.

State Minister Muentefering told reporters on Monday that Germany still has “a lot of catching up to do in coming to terms with our colonial heritage”.

As part of ongoing talks with the Namibian government on addressing its brutal legacy in what was then South West Africa, the German government said in 2016 that it planned to issue a formal apology.

But the negotiations aimed at coming up with a joint declaration on the massacres are still ongoing.

Although Berlin has acknowledged the horrors that occurred at the hands of German imperial troops, it has refused to pay direct reparations.

It has argued instead that German development aid worth hundreds of millions of euros since Namibia’s independence from South Africa in 1990 was “for the benefit of all Namibians”.

Angered by Berlin’s stance, representatives of the Herero and Nama people have filed a class-action lawsuit in a US court demanding reparations.

They also want to be included in the discussions between Germany and Namibia.

Germany wants the lawsuit thrown out on the grounds of state immunity for prosecution.

The New York judge in the case has yet to rule on whether to hear the lawsuit.

Namibian Culture Minister Katrina Hanse-Himarwa, speaking alongside Muentefering in Berlin, said the two countries “still have many problems to solve”.

“We must ensure that after we’ve reached agreements on damages, recognition and an apology, there’s a future in which the German and Namibian nations join hands and move forward.”

Incensed by German settlers stealing their land, women and cattle, the Hereros revolted in 1904 and killed more than 100 German civilians over several days. The Nama people joined the uprising in 1905.

Determined to crush the rebellion, General Lothar von Trotha signed a notorious “extermination order” that would lead to the deaths of some 60,000 Hereros and 10,000 Nama people.

Many were murdered by German imperial troops while others, rounded up in prison camps, died from hunger and exposure.

Dozens were beheaded after their deaths, their skulls sent to researchers in Germany for discredited “scientific” experiments that purported to prove the racial superiority of white Europeans.

In some instances, captured Herero women were made to boil the decapitated heads and scrape them clean with shards of glass.

Research carried out by German professor Eugen Fischer on the skulls and bones resulted in theories later used by the Nazis to justify the murder of Jews.

Wednesday’s handover proceedings mark the third time that Germany has repatriated human remains to Namibia, the previous occasions were in 2011 and 2014.

The remains, many of which were stored on dusty shelves in universities and clinics, were “often stolen… brought to Germany without respect for human dignity”, according to the German foreign ministry.

Herero activist Muinjangue said the homecoming of the bones was always “very emotional”.

“I’m looking at the skull of a Herero or Nama peasant. A peasant who could have been my great-grandmother or great-great grandmother or father.”</s>Finally, a small gesture. The return of human remains is a signal to Namibia that Germany regrets the crimes committed during its colonial past. It was bare racism that compelled people to loot graves and remove human bones for questionable research in the German empire. It culminated in the genocide of tens of thousands of Herero and Nama people.

It's a gesture that comes at the right time, after years of unsuccessful negotiations, arguments about compensation and verbal attacks. Two years ago, the German government promised to apologize for the genocide, more than a century after it ended. Namibia is still waiting, and so are the Herero and Nama. Namibians have the impression that the German government doesn't want to confess to its past guilt.

Read more: Genocide in Namibia: Germany remains at odds with its colonial legacy

Sure, Germany does not bear sole responsibility for the years of delay. Both sides have long taken positions and made demands that made agreement impossible.

The German government will only apologize once the issue of reparations has been settled to its satisfaction. Namibian authorities have done nothing to include in the negotiations representatives of the Herero and Nama critical of the government, while on the other hand, they publicly flirted with a lawsuit against Germany. With due respect for justified frustration at the missing apology, a few representatives of the Herero and Nama have attracted attention by making unrealistic demands and directing verbal attacks at Germany.

The return to Namibia of the remains comes at this very tense time.

It is an opportunity to pause for a moment and think about Germany's colonial past and the crimes it committed. In particular about the worst German colonial crime, as far as we know: the murder of tens of thousands — some even say hundreds of thousands — of Herero and Nama men, women and children who German colonial soldiers imprisoned in concentration camps or chased into the desert to perish of thirst. There are countless victims whose names and fates have long been forgotten. These people were denied eternal rest. Their bones were kept in cardoard boxes in German hospital storerooms for decades. As a result, present-day Herero and Nama were never able to bury their ancestors in a dignified way.

This is an opportunity for all sides to approach one other, a chance at an agreement for both governments, whose negotiators are scheduled to hold talks again on Friday. It is also an opportunity for the two sides to reach out to those Herero and Nama who took Germany to court in New York.

Read more: Germany's new Africa policy builds on old solutions

It is an opportunity to finally get them involved in earnest in the negotiations. And it is an opportunity for some representatives to drop their demands and accept that ultimately, an agreement over this issue will be concluded between governments. The fact that one of the representatives is allowed to speak at the ceremony is an encouraging first step. The fact that critical representatives of German civil society must remain outside, however, is not.

For all the importance of this day, real reconciliation requires an apology.</s>BERLIN (Reuters) - Skulls and other remains of massacred tribespeople used in the colonial era for experiments to push claims of European racial superiority were handed over by Germany to Namibia at a church ceremony in Berlin.

In what historians call the first genocide of the 20th century, soldiers of German Kaiser Wilhelm slaughtered some 65,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama tribespeople in a 1904-08 campaign after a revolt against land seizures by German colonists.

At Wednesday’s ceremony, a Namibian delegation received the skulls and bones from German Foreign Ministry representatives. They will be taken to the Namibian capital Windhoek on Aug. 31 where rituals will be carried out.

“Today, we want to do what should have been done many years ago - to give back to their descendents the remains of people who became victims of the first genocide of the 20th century,” said Petra Bosse-Huber, a German Protestant bishop.

Namibian Education Minister Katrina Hanse-Himarwa said last week that the government would create a group to decide whether to bury or display the repatriated skulls that had been kept in German museums.

Germany has acknowledged “moral responsibility” for the killings but to avoid compensation claims, has avoided making an official apology for the massacres.

Esther Utjiua Muinjangue, chairwoman of the Ovaherero Genocide Foundation, said the handover ceremony would have been the perfect opportunity for Germany to officially apologise.

“Is that asking too much? I don’t think so,” she told reporters in Berlin earlier this week.

Ignored for decades, Germany’s colonial history is drawing increasing attention. A couple of years ago, the German Historical Museum curated a big exhibition on the subject.

Germany, which lost all its colonial territories after World War One, was the third biggest colonial power after Britain and France, which lost theirs after World War Two.

During its 1904-08 campaign in what was then German South West Africa, the German Reich sent reinforcements to put down an uprising by tribespeople over their expulsion from their land and recruitment into forced labour. The Hereros had killed 123 German traders, settlers and soldiers.

In addition to the slaughter, thousands of Hereros were driven into the desert and died of thirst and starvation, and the rest were sent to concentration camps.

Legal representatives for the Herero and Nama people have brought a lawsuit against Germany in New York over genocide and property seizure carried out by German colonists.

The German government has entered negotiations with the Namibian government over possible reparations for the genocide but the lawsuit argues that Germany violated international law on the rights of indigenous peoples.</s>Some historians consider as genocide the massacre from 1904 to 1908 of modern-day Namibia's indigenous Herero and Nama groups by German imperial troops

BERLIN, Germany – The massacre of modern-day Namibia's indigenous Herero and Nama groups by German imperial troops more than a century ago is considered by some historians to be the first genocide of the 20th century.

As Germany prepares to return some of the victims' bones on Wednesday, August 29, here is some background.

Germany ruled what was then called South West Africa as a colony from 1884 to 1915.

Angered by German settlers stealing their women, land and cattle in their remote desert territory, the Herero tribe launched a revolt in January 1904. Its warriors butchered 123 German civilians over several days.

The smaller Nama tribe joined the uprising in 1905.

The German occupiers responded ruthlessly, defeating the Herero in a decisive battle at Waterberg, northwest of the capital city of Windhoek, on August 11, 1904.

German troops then pursued them as some 80,000 fled towards Botswana, with women and children, across what is now known as the Kalahari Desert. Only 15,000 survived.

In October 1904 German General Lothar von Trotha, under the direct command of Kaiser Wilhelm II in Berlin, signed a notorious "extermination order" against the Herero.

"Within the German boundaries, every Herero, with or without a gun, with or without livestock, will be shot dead," he said.

Survivors were sent to concentration camps, decades before those in which millions of Jews and others were exterminated during World War II.

An estimated 60,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama people were killed from 1904 to 1908.

From 40 percent at the start of the 20th century, the Herero now only make up seven percent of the Namibian population.

Hundreds of Hereros and Namas were beheaded after their deaths and their skulls were spirited away to German researchers in Berlin for since discredited "scientific" experiments to prove the racial superiority of whites over blacks.

In 1924 a German museum sold some of the bones to an American collector, who donated them to New York's natural history museum.

In 2008 Namibia's ambassador in Berlin demanded that the bones be returned, saying it was a question of reclaiming "our dignity".

Germany has since 2011 formally handed back dozens of the skulls, many of which were stored at universities and clinics.

Germany long refused to take the blame for the episode, only accepting responsibility on the 100th anniversary of the massacres in 2004, when the then development minister, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, said the "atrocities... would today be called genocide."

Some historians and other officials have also termed the massacre a genocide, including then German parliamentary president, Norbert Lammert, in 2015.

The German government said in 2016 that it planned to issue a formal apology, but negotiations are still ongoing.

Berlin has also refused to pay reparations to descendants of the Nama and Herero victims, arguing that its development aid worth hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) since Namibia's independence from South Africa in 1990 was "for the benefit of all Namibians".

Herero and Nama representatives have filed a class-action suit against the German government in a US court to demand damages. The New York judge has yet to rule on whether to hear the lawsuit, which Germany wants thrown out. – Rappler.com</s>A Namibian delegation has been handed the remains of 27 countrymen whose bones were taken by German colonial forces more than a century ago for pseudo-scientific racial experiments.

A Namibian delegation has been handed the remains of 27 countrymen whose bones were taken by German colonial forces more than a century ago for pseudo-scientific racial experiments.

At a church ceremony in Berlin, two skulls in glass boxes along with a coffin covered with a Namibian flag were placed in front of the altar ahead of the handover.

The repatriation of the remains is a reminder of Germany’s short-lived past as a colonial power in Africa – which included the bloody suppression of a Herero and Nama uprising between 1904 and 1908 that left tens of thousands dead.

“We intend to do something today we should have done many years ago, namely to give back mortal human remains of people who became the first victims of the first genocide of the 20th century,” German Lutheran Bishop Petra Bosse-Huber told the fully packed church.

Germany is returning 19 skulls, five full skeletons and bone and skin fragments that were stored in hospitals, museums and universities for decades.

In the early 20th century, German scientists tried to prove the “racial superiority” of white Europeans over black Africans by, for example, analysing the facial features of the skulls, well before Nazi-era scientists conducted similar experiments on Jews and others.

“These skulls tell the story of brutal, godless colonial past and its consecutive suppression of the Namibian people. They say, ‘Never again!'” Lutheran Bishop Ernst Gamxamub from Namibia said during his sermon.

It was the third time Germany has returned human remains to Namibia. In 2011, 20 skulls were handed over from Berlin’s Charite Hospital. In 2014, both Charite and the University of Freiburg gave back 32 skulls and skeletons.

Historians say German Gen Lothar von Trotha, who was sent to what was then South West Africa to put down an uprising by the Hereros against their German rulers in 1904, instructed his troops to wipe out the entire tribe.

About two-thirds of all Hereros were killed, and the order also affected smaller tribes.

In 2004, then-development minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul travelled to Namibia and offered Germany’s first apology for the massacre, which she said was “what today would be labelled as genocide”.

Michelle Muentefering, a deputy foreign minister, told the Namibian delegation earlier this week that “we want to help heal wounds”.

Germany and Namibia have been negotiating about possible compensation for the descendants of the victims since 2015. When the remains are returned to Namibia on Thursday, Ms Muentefering will travel along for another round of negotiations in Windhoek.</s>Germany on Wednesday handed back human remains seized from Namibia a century ago after the slaughter of indigenous people under its colonial rule, but angry descendants slammed Berlin for failing to properly atone for the dark chapter.

Herero chief Vekuii Rukoro, whose ancestors were among the tens of thousands of Herero and Nama people massacred between 1904 and 1908, said the handover ceremony should have taken place not in a Berlin church, but a German government building.

He also accused Berlin of taking too long to formally apologise for what is often called the first genocide of the 20th century. "By trying not to acknowledge the past, the German government will continue to make serious mistakes as regards present and future policies," Rukoro told the church audience, which included government officials from both countries.

"We are after all the direct descendants of these remains and we should not be ignored."

A Namibian delegation formally received the remains, including 19 skulls, a scalp and bones. Michelle Muentefering, a minister of state for international cultural policies in the German foreign ministry, asked "for forgiveness from the bottom of my heart" as she handed over the remains to Namibia’s culture minister. Several Herero women in traditional headdress wiped away tears during the at times emotional proceedings.

"May the remains of our ancestors finally go home to Namibia in peace. May they return to the dust from which they came. May justice be done and faith in humanity be restored," said Nama chief Johannes Isaack.
Germany hands over to Namibia the human remains—19 skulls, a scalp and bones—of Herero and Nama tribespeople among the tens of thousands killed by the German Empire between 1904 and 1908.