Who Are the Herero?
The Herero (Ovaherero) are a Bantu-speaking pastoral people of approximately 240,000 in Namibia and 120,000 in Botswana. They speak Otjiherero and related dialects. Once dominant cattle herders in central Namibia, the Herero suffered genocide under German colonial rule (1904-1908) that killed 65-80% of their population—the 20th century's first genocide. This catastrophe shapes modern Herero identity profoundly. Today, Herero women's distinctive Victorian-era dress and the community's ongoing pursuit of reparations from Germany keep historical memory and demands for justice alive.
The Herero Genocide
In 1904, the Herero rose against German colonial rule after land dispossession and abuse. Germany's response was exterminatory: General Lothar von Trotha's "Vernichtungsbefehl" (extermination order) commanded killing all Herero. Survivors were driven into the Omaheke Desert to die of thirst; those captured were placed in concentration camps where forced labor, starvation, and medical experiments killed thousands. Of approximately 80,000 Herero, only 15,000 survived. Germany acknowledged the genocide in 2021 and promised compensation, though Herero representatives rejected the agreement as inadequate. The genocide's legacy—lost land, cattle, and population—still affects Herero today.
Victorian Dress
Herero women wear distinctive long dresses with voluminous skirts and matching headgear called otjikaiva, shaped like cattle horns. This style, adapted from 19th-century German missionary wives' clothing, has become quintessentially Herero. The elaborate dresses, requiring yards of fabric, represent both adaptation to colonialism and transformation of imposed dress into cultural identity. Colors and occasions are significant—red for certain ceremonies, specific colors for mourning. The dress has become an identity marker distinguishing Herero women; its continuation represents cultural resilience and creative appropriation.
Cattle and the Holy Fire
Before colonial devastation, cattle defined Herero life—wealth, status, and identity centered on herds. The okuruwo (holy fire) maintained at the chief's homestead connected community to ancestors; cattle sacrifices communicated with the spirit world. German colonizers deliberately targeted cattle, understanding their cultural centrality. Post-genocide Herero rebuilt herds but never recovered former scale. Traditional religion has declined under Christian influence, but ancestral veneration continues. Annual commemorations at Okahandja include cattle sacrifices and traditional dress, maintaining connections to pre-genocide culture and honoring ancestors who died in the genocide.
Justice Demands
Herero descendants have pursued genocide acknowledgment and reparations for decades. Lawsuits in US courts (dismissed for procedural reasons) and international advocacy raised global awareness. Germany's 2021 acknowledgment and €1.1 billion development aid promise was rejected by Herero traditional authorities who were excluded from negotiations. They demand direct reparations to descendants and return of ancestral lands, not government-to-government aid. Skulls taken for racial science in Berlin have been repatriated. The Herero case raises profound questions about historical justice, reparations possibilities, and how colonial crimes should be addressed generations later.
References
- Gewald, J. B. (1999). Herero Heroes: A Socio-Political History of the Herero of Namibia, 1890-1923
- Olusoga, D. & Erichsen, C. W. (2010). The Kaiser's Holocaust: Germany's Forgotten Genocide and the Colonial Roots of Nazism
- Steinmetz, G. (2007). The Devil's Handwriting: Precoloniality and the German Colonial State in Qingdao, Samoa, and Southwest Africa