The Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) on Wednesday launched a documentary and book on the Herero Genocide Survivor Narratives.
The launch is a result of a three-year research project funded by NUST and the Carl Schlettwein Foundation in Switzerland during which the researchers travelled to the remote parts of the country in search of children of the survivors of the Herero genocide.
In her overview, at the launch, principal investigator and project leader Professor. Sarala Krishnamurthy said since there is a singular lack of narrative material about Herero Nama genocide from the Namibian side they embarked on a project to collect narratives of the genocide of the survivor families.
She said the research was restricted to the elders who are mostly 75-years and older and who are grandchildren and third generations of the survivors to collect the wealth of information found in the memories of the indigenous population.
She added 28 men and women were interviewed and they spoke about the Ohamakari attack and also narrated stories of survivors of the concentration camps as well as about identity, reparation and land issues.
“The Herero elders long for peace and stability because they experienced transgenerational trauma. Most of the men expressed their opinion that Germans owe them reparations and restoration of the land holdings while the women broke down when they talked about the genocide and the loss of life,” she said.
The narrative, Krishnamurthy said, will be submitted to the Basler Afrika Bibliographien in Switzerland, the National Library and Archives and to the NUST library as well as to other libraries within Namibia.
In his keynote address member of the Ovaherero and Ovambanderu genocide foundation, Mbakumua Hengari said the Herero people are still reeling from the effects of the genocide and thus is befitting that this book and documentary contains direct perspectives and narratives from the descendants of the victims of the genocide.
“This work could not have come at a more opportune time because this is the time that the descendants of the survivors of the first genocide of the 21st century are being challenged to the core by significant attempts to word whitewash this tragedy that befell our communities approximately 117 years ago,” he said.
Source: Namibia Press Agency
