Namibia pulls down statue of German colonial officer

The statue of Curt von Francois, seen as an emblem of colonial oppression, was eliminated following strain from native activists.

The elimination of von Francois's statue comes two years after the statue of Cecil Rhodes, a British colonialist, was beheaded by activists on the College of Cape City in neighbouring South Africa throughout protests sparked by the loss of life of George Floyd [Julia Runge/AFP]

A colonial-era statue of a German official was faraway from the Namibian capital Windhoek on Wednesday, following strain from native activists, as onlookers clapped and hooted.

The two.4 metre bronze statue of Curt von Francois, which was unveiled in 1965, was seen as an emblem of colonial oppression within the southern African nation.

“This second is a recollection of dignity, our metropolis has been white-washed,” Hildegard Titus, an activist with the A Curt Farewell motion that pushed for the statue’s elimination, advised the AFP information company.

“There may be an emotional tie to the statue being taken down, nevertheless it additionally has to do with historic accuracy”.

It's the newest statue to be taken down as activists around the globe mount campaigns to take away representations of colonial-era officers who have been accused of practising slavery and committing different atrocities.

The elimination of von Francois’s statue comes two years after the statue of Cecil Rhodes, a British colonialist, was beheaded by activists on the College of Cape City in neighbouring South Africa throughout protests sparked by the loss of life of George Floyd in america.

Germany colonised Namibia from 1884 to 1915. It apologised in 2021 for its function within the bloodbath of Herero and Nama tribespeople in Namibia greater than a century in the past and formally described it as a genocide for the primary time.

Between 1904 and 1908, German settlers killed tens of hundreds of indigenous Herero and Nama folks in massacres historians have referred to as the twentieth century’s first genocide.

The statue, which stood on a excessive pedestal outdoors municipal buildings, depicted a moustached von Francois in army uniform, a big hat and holding a sword.

The town council stated the statue, which A Curt Farewell described as “a reminder of genocide”, will now be saved on the Windhoek Metropolis Museum.

There it is going to be displayed with an evidence of the historic context, stated Aaron Nambadi, a curator on the museum.

“We as historians and curators have been concerned on this venture to right the false narrative that von Francois was the founding father of town,” Nambadi advised AFP.

Germany has promised greater than 1bn euros in monetary help to descendants of the victims, whom many Namibians argue weren't sufficiently concerned within the compensation negotiations.

Final month, Namibia requested to renegotiate the phrases of the settlement.