Herero Genocide finally recognised

[Chris Boonzaier]

You have to be pretty resistent to the events not to recognise it for what it was IMHO, although there those who disagree...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/07/14/germany-to-recognise-herero-genocide-and-apologise-to-namibia/

[paul wood]

Unfortunately a bit late now an in my opinion rather irrelevant as words are cheap.

Paul

 

[Paul C]

I don't think words are cheap. Germany has accepted responsibility for what they have done, which I believe is important. Other nations who have committed similar actions refuse to formally apologize and ignore their responsibility. One nation in the Pacific Ocean comes to mind.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi,

Apololgies are diffucult... Japan has apologised numerous times, but it seems that wahtever they say it is never enough....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_apology_statements_issued_by_Japan

Somewhere else in the world people are sitting in Laos, Vietnam, Algeria or the Belgian Congo waiting for their apologies... I may be wrong, but I think Germany is the only Western country that has really apoligised for anything? I have probably missed something...

[jaba1914]

1 hour ago, Paul C said:

I don't think words are cheap. Germany has accepted responsibility for what they have done, which I believe is important. Other nations who have committed similar actions refuse to formally apologize and ignore their responsibility. One nation in the Pacific Ocean comes to mind.

And another not far away from Germany on the far east of Europa. It's a shame.

Kind regards Alex

[Bernhard H.Holst]

Hello readers.

I remember the times when as a youngster growing up in Germany in the 1930's/40's accounts of the events ( military operations ) against the rebels in then German South-West Africa were avidly read and traded among us. The German troops were defending the German settlers against marauding natives and had to apply severe measures against these lawless elements.

Only slowly after the end of the pre-1945 regime did the true history of the German colonial efforts come to light, including the military campaigns to to suppress any efforts by native peoples to resist. This is also applicable to the other German colonies with the possible exception of Togo.

This writer believes that an apology was indeed necessary and even overdue.

Bernhard H. Holst

[Paul C]

We have had this discussion about "apologizes" a few times on the forums. My opinion about Germany and Japan apologizing and taking responsibility for their actions during WWII is based more on a "feeling" then fact. I just feel that the German nation and people as a whole regret what happen during the 1933-45 period. I feel that Japanese only regrets that they lost the war. Again this is just my opinion.

[Chris Boonzaier]

1 hour ago, Paul C said:

 Again this is just my opinion.

Hi,

 

all opinions are as valid as the next one, so no worries!

It is also a cultural thing, I think "Germany" apologised because it was "the correct thing to do"... unfortunately I meet many individual Germans who seem to have forgotten their History some time ago.... Japanese culture is different.

So is Vietnamese... When the survivors of the My lai Massacre were offered a Monument they apparently initially refused, their culture making them look forward, not backwards.... But here is a Question... did the US ever officially apoligise for the My lai massacre? And how many Ex US Servicemen do you know who find it disgusting that Calley only got a slap on the wrist. I think the answer to those is probably "No" and "nearly None".

So it is hard for me to really pick on Japan when noone really apoligises for anything... other than Germany ;-)

[bolewts58]

I've lived in Asia for 20 years, lived in Hanoi for a year and have traveled to Vietnam several times. The Vietnamese don't think about the war, in general especially since General Giap died a couple of years ago. There are occasional dramas on TV about the war. But, the majority of the population is so young that the war is nothing more than ancient history taught in school. They love American culture and an apology from the US for My Lai would, at this point be meaningless to most Vietnamese.

The Koreans and Chinese hate the Japanese and will never forgive them no matter whether they apologize or not. You hear strong anti-Japanese rhetoric even from young Koreans and Chinese.

The Japanese are not taught the truth about WWII in school and most are ignorant of the atrocities committed. The nation as a whole, despite its innovations in such things as technology suffers from arrested emotional development where striving for perpetual youth and cuteness are what define the culture. Except for a few old men and a handful of xenophobic nationalists at the Yasukuni Shrine, the war is all but ignored or forgotten.

Edited July 16, 2016 by bolewts58

[Bayern]

Hard to expose a opinion ,  I will tell what my german grandmother tels me about the  theme : briefly that the colony of South west africa was rather pacific until the Herero hotentots the most intell igent tribe wich was very adapted to the european way revolted instigated by naturally , british agents and moravian missionaires . and the hidden reason was the find by the germans of rich diamonds fields . The fact is that was a real bush war very hard to conclude and malignized to the extreme inclusive inside Germany . not much diferent that the apartheid South africa fought in Namibia .