Marinedenkmal

Swakopmund, 4th of April 2024 – Germany is omnipresent in Namibia. In Swakopmund we read the street names: Leutwein Straße, Lüderitzer Straße, Am Zoll, Rhode Allee… As a result of The Scramble for Africa, Germany was a.o. ‘awarded’ German South West Africa, being nowadays Namibia. That was in 1884. From then on until WWI, the Germans colonised the country. It was an unsavoury history, ending in the genocide of the Nama and the Herrero. We are astonished when we see a monument in Swakopmund for the fallen German soldiers. Although the monument shows some red paint stains, it is still there… when we cautiously talk about it to the locals, they diplomatically reply: ‘we have to move on’.

Marinedenkmal, erected in 1908, after the killing of 80% of the Herrero and 50% of the Nama (FDC)

Built in 1912 (FDC)

Biergarten, alienating experience (FDC)







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