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." 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. 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". 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. 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. “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. Herero warriors butchered 123 German civilians over several days, while the smaller Nama tribe 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. 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.
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.