German Bishop calls for German apology :: Namibia Internet Gateway cc ::

Articles: German Bishop calls for German apology

Posted by admin on Friday, July 09, 2004 - 02:28 AM

FOR the first time a Lutheran Bishop in Germany has demanded that the German government should officially apologise for the genocide of the Herero people.
In an interview with the Evangelical Press Agency (epd) in Germany, the Bishop of Luebeck, Baerbel Wartenberg-Potter, said that according to all definitions of genocide (Voelkermord), General von Trotha's extermination order of 1904 constituted genocide. One hundred years later, the colonial war against the Hereros remains an open sore even for the German people. She therefore called for an official apology to the Herero people from the German government. This would be an adequate first step possibly followed by judicial steps. "History does not disappear by not dealing with it, it remains there and it remains a wound," she said. The German Bishop pointed out that the first German genocide was unfortunately not entrenched in the consciousness of most Germans, even amongst sensitive and caring people.She regretted that no German chancellor or president had so far received an official delegation of the Herero people. "It is, therefore, high time that our government as well as the public take more notice of this sad part of our history." She recalled that the German genocide in Africa was later followed by the genocide of the Jewish people on a much bigger scale under fascist rule in Germany.

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