“Namibian Government condemns Germany’s AfD Deputy for honouring Schutztruppe officer
Date: August 01, 2024 in: News
Staff Reporter
THE Namibian Government has condemned the actions of Sven Tritschler, Deputy Leader of Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) parliamentary faction, and his colleague, who laid a wreath at the grave of Wilhelm Eduard Richard Heldt of the German Schutztruppe at the Swakopmund cemetery.
The Executive Director of the Ministry of International Relations, Ambassador Penda Naanda, explained that Tritschler visited Namibia as a member of the parliamentary delegation from the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) to familiarise himself with the situation in Namibia, the historic injustices committed during colonialism, and the premeditated genocide against the Herero and Nama.
[…]
“Namibia further deplores the subsequent posting of a photo of this dishonourable act by Mr Sven Tritschler on X, captioned ‘Incidentally, the narrative of the “innocent” Herero and Nama population who fell victim to “criminal” German soldiers is historically untenable.’ Such acts of rehabilitating revisionist colonial ideologies by some members of the AfD are provocative and unacceptable,” Naanda said.
He further highlighted that while the German government has yet to fully atone for the genocide it committed on Namibian soil, this act evokes unparalleled pain and suffering for the victims and undermines all ongoing efforts towards reconciliation.
[…].”
- Full news report on the website of Informanté (last checked in August 2024)
- Statement of the Executive Director of the Ministry of International Relations, Ambassador Penda Naanda, on the website of the Namibian Embassy in Germany (last checked in August 2024)
On 2 August 2024, the Allgemeine Zeitung also reported on the Namibian government’s condemnation of Tritschler’s wreath-laying ceremony. The report (in German) also included the reaction of German politicians who sharply criticised Tritschler’s statements and views.
Report from 2 August 2024 by the Allgemeine Zeitung on Namibia’s government condemning the laying of a wreath at the grave of a Schutztruppe soldier by Sven Tritschler (right), the vice-chairman of the parliamentary group of the right-wing populist party AfD in the regional parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. Screenshot: Allgemeine Zeitung
Editor’s note:
The delegation from the main committee of the regional parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia officially visited Namibia from 7 to 12 July 2024. The focus was on coming to terms with German colonialism, which the main committee of the state parliament has been dealing with for some time (see post by the speaker of the Green Party in the committee, Verena Schäffer, of 2 February 2024 – in German; last checked in August 2024).
In Swakopmund, the delegation visited the Herero cemetery and also commemorated the victims of German colonialism with a wreath-laying ceremony. During the visit to the Genocide Museum, the parliamentary delegation presented the founder of the museum, Laidlaw Peringanda, with a medal in recognition of his work. Tritschler took part in this visit.
Following the official part of the trip, Tritschler and his assistant laid a wreath at the grave of a Schutztruppe officer. The German national newspaper taz reported on 18 and 26 July 2024 that Tritschler had published a photo of this on his Instagram channel, “accompanied by the national-heroic war song ‘I had a comrade’.” [“… unterlegt mit dem national-heroischen Kriegslied ‘Ich hatt’ einen Kameraden’.”]
When asked, Tritschler added, according to taz: “Incidentally, the narrative of the ‘innocent’ Herero and Nama population falling victim to ‘criminal’ German soldiers is historically untenable.” [“Im Übrigen ist die Erzählung von der ‘unschuldigen’ Herero- und Namabevölkerung, die ‘verbrecherischen’ deutschen Soldaten zum Opfer gefallen sei, historisch nicht haltbar.”]
- Report from 26 July 2024 on the website of the national German daily newspaper taz (in German; last checked in August 2024)
On 25 July 2024, the German national news magazine ‘Der Spiegel’ reported on an official complaint by the Namibian ambassador to Germany, Martin Andjaba, to the Federal Foreign Office. The Federal Foreign Office emphasised to the Spiegel that the AfD politician’s action in no way represented the position of the German Federal Government.
- Report from 25 July 2024 on the website of nationwide German weekly news magazine Spiegel (in German; subscription; last checked in August 2024)
The director of the Swakopmund Genocide Museum, Laidlaw Peringanda, wants to express his protest against Tritschler’s ‘mockery’ of the genocide by returning the medal awarded by the NRW state parliament.
- Post from 31 July 2024 on the Facebook page of the Swakopmund Genocide Museum (last checked in August 2024), founded and run by artist and activist Laidlaw Peringanda