Hendrik Witbooi was a devout chief. His tribe belonged to the African population of the Nama - and with trust in God he led him into a war against the German invaders. At the beginning of the 20th century, these created fear and terror in what is now Namibia. The colonial rulers called the land "German Southwest Africa" the original inhabitants of which were subjugating it.
Witbooi was hit on 29 October 1905 by the bullet of an imperial "Schutztruppe". He was bleeding that same day. From its headquarters, the German occupiers brought a Bible and a cattle whip to Stuttgart. There, the two objects belonged to the existence of the Linden Museum since 1911 - as two of a total of about 25,300 colonial objects, of which 2200 from Namibia alone.
After the independence of the African country in 1990 Witbooi became a national hero. In 2013, the Namibian state expressed a desire to get back bible and whip. On the initiative of Baden-Württemberg's Minister of Science, Research and the Arts, Theresia Bauer (Greens), the green-black state government finally decided on restitution in mid-November 2018.
Previously, Bauer had assured that the return was a "best practice example", so a groundbreaking model of success. After the Cabinet decision, she emphasized that for Namibia, "the Bible is of the highest symbolic and historical significance." Green PM Winfried Kretschmann said the restitution was "a significant signal and an important step in the process of reconciliation".
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Namibia: The Late Consequences of Colonial CrimeMeanwhile, the question is, who should reconcile - and with whom. For if Minister Bauer flies with her bible and whip to Namibia on this Monday evening, she also causes discord in the African country. The reason: some of the Nama descendants are not represented by the current government in Windhoek, which is dominated by the Ovombo people.
The Association of Nama Tribal Elders (NTLA) therefore absolutely wanted to prevent the return of the two objects. She specifically instructed a lawyer to take legal action. And she hurriedly petitioned for suspension of restitution at the state constitutional court, which was rejected late last week.
Succession to the supremacy
Subsequently, Minister Bauer remarked that she was holding on to the return as planned. The lawsuit concerns conflicts "that need to be resolved within Namibia". Bauer pointed out that in October 2018 official talks were held with descendants of the Witbooi family and representatives of the Nama. They explicitly agreed to the procedure.
From diplomatic circles in Windhoek, however, can be heard that the Witbooi family since 2011/2012 was deeply divided. At that time there had been a succession struggle for supremacy within the clan. The result: only one part is loyal today to the Namibian government, the other feels represented by the NTLA.
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The tribal elders complain that they have not been included in the discussions with the German side by the Namibian government. With the now occurring official return they are also taken the opportunity to negotiate even with the Federal Republic of the restitution and other possible compensation payments.
The tensions between parts of the Nama and the government in Windhoek, which arise on the occasion of the planned handing over of the bible and the whip, show the potential for conflict resulting from the restitution of robbed cultural assets from the colonial era, which are in the thousands in German museums. Who are the rightful owners? And can you give objects to the Namibian state, even though it did not exist in the colonial era?
The answer to such difficult questions requires foreign policy experience, but international diplomacy has not been one of the core competencies of the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science. The FDP opposition politician Nico Weinmann criticized because also Minister Bauer let miss a special sensitivity to the interest groups and does not do justice to the historical responsibility.
From Berlin comes support for the minister
Bauer has been pushing for restitution for months, even though the federal and state governments are still negotiating a common political position on dealing with cultural assets from colonial contexts. Some in the political Stuttgart accuse the minister behind closed doors, she wants to distract by the public effective return of cultural assets of their own problems. So it stands for some time in the criticism because of an affair around illegal allowances for professors of the university Ludwigsburg.
Meanwhile, Bauer receives backing from Berlin. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Michelle Müntefering (SPD), wrote that the return of the Bible and the whip was a good and important step in promoting the process of reconciliation. Also the Namibia representative of the Federal Government, Ruprecht Polenz (CDU), expressed end of last week positively to the journey of the minister.
As early as August 2018, the federal government had handed over once-a-year bones from local communities to a Namibian delegation in an official ceremony. For years, both countries have been negotiating adequate German compensation for the colonial crimes that killed up to 100,000 people between 1904 and 1908 in "German South-West Africa" (the German colonial name).