Long overshadowed by World War II and the Holocaust, a colonial-era genocide dedicated by Germany in Namibia has been dropped at the massive display screen, shining a light-weight on the nation’s uncared for crimes.
Lars Kraume’s “Measures of Men” tells the story of a German ethnologist who travels to what was German South West Africa within the early 1900s to check the nation’s indigenous peoples and harvest their skulls.
The movie was launched in German cinemas on March 23 and has additionally been the topic of particular screenings, together with in faculties and the Bundestag decrease home of parliament.
“The colonial era was long repressed by Germany, which lost all its colonies in 1919,” Kraume, 50, advised AFP.
“This film is a contribution to making Germans aware of their responsibilities,” he mentioned.
Germany is well-known for its efforts to recollect and atone for the atrocities dedicated throughout World War II.
Children are taught concerning the Holocaust in faculties, a memorial to the murdered Jews occupies a outstanding place in Berlin, and numerous movies and documentaries have been made concerning the Nazis.
But just one different movie, “Morenga” by German director Egon Guenther, based mostly on the novel of the identical identify by Uwe Timm, has been made in Germany concerning the nation’s function in Namibia.
RACIST EXPERİMENTS
Though smaller than these of France and Britain, Germany’s colonial empire encompassed components of a number of African nations, together with present-day Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Namibia and Cameroon.
In Namibia, Germany was answerable for mass killings of indigenous Herero and Nama folks that many historians discuss with as the primary genocide of the twentieth century.
Over the previous 20 years, Germany has been step by step beginning to discuss extra concerning the bloodbath, through which not less than 60,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama have been killed between 1904 and 1908.
Germany has returned skulls and different human stays to Namibia that it had despatched to Berlin through the interval for “scientific” experiments.
And in May 2021, the nation formally acknowledged that it had dedicated genocide in Namibia and promised a billion euros in monetary help to descendants of the victims.
“Since the centenary of the genocide in 2004, historians and activists have done a lot of work on the subject,” mentioned Joel Glasman, a professor of African historical past on the University of Bayreuth.
In “Measures of Men”, an ethnologist from Berlin, Alexander Hoffmann (Leonard Scheicher), is distributed to Namibia to conduct experiments on the inhabitants and acquire their bones for analysis.
At the start of the movie, Hoffmann believes no race is superior to some other.
But he’s bold and, with a view to additional his profession, finally ends up going together with the prevailing scientific knowledge — which went on to pave the way in which for the racist ideology of the Nazis.
The story is advised primarily from the German perspective, although Hoffmann’s good friend Kezia Kambazembi (Girley Charlene Jazama), a Herero translator, additionally performs a outstanding function.
‘VERY EMOTIONAL’
Israel Kaunatjike, a Herero rights activist based mostly in Berlin, mentioned “Measures of Men” had “moved me deeply”.
“It motivated me to continue to fight for our cause,” mentioned the 76-year-old, who was an anti-apartheid resistance fighter when Namibia was nonetheless beneath South African management.
When “Measures of Men” was proven in some Herero villages, “it was very emotional, people thought Lars Kraume was brave to show such a film to the descendants of the victims”, Kaunatjike mentioned.
A movie displaying the angle of the Herero and Nama on the identical occasions could be welcome, Kaunatjike mentioned. “But unfortunately they don’t have the money to make a film.”
When the movie was proven in faculties, “the students understood the ambivalence of the hero and wanted to discuss it”, Kraume mentioned.
Both Kaunatjike and Kraume consider Germany nonetheless has some solution to go to reckon with its colonial previous.
“We need an official request for forgiveness from the German president in Namibia and the return of all the Herero and Nama skulls and bones still in German collections for burial,” mentioned Kraume.
For Kaunatjike, “development aid is no substitute for reparations”.
Source: www.anews.com.tr
