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On May 28, 2025, Namibia held its inaugural Genocide Remembrance Day to honor the Herero and Nama people slaughtered during German colonial rule more than a century ago. The ceremony was solemn and necessary — the crimes were horrific and deserve remembrance — but it quickly turned into another round of demands for reparations that should make every sensible taxpayer uneasy.
Berlin has acknowledged the atrocities and offered roughly €1.1 billion in development aid over 30 years, a package cast by some as a step toward reconciliation. Yet Namibian leaders and some descendants rejected the offer as insufficient, and rightly or wrongly, negotiations have become a political contest rather than a straightforward settlement to heal wounds.
There is no denying the brutality of the 1904–1908 campaign, the extermination orders, and the shameful collection of human remains shipped to Europe. Honoring victims and returning remains — steps Germany has taken in part — are matters of decency; turning historical tragedy into a perpetual financial liability for contemporary citizens of other nations is another matter entirely.
Conservatives should be clear-eyed: reparations across generations and borders are a treacherous precedent. If every country starts monetizing historic wrongs, the world will be consumed by endless claims that do nothing to improve living standards today and everything to fuel a politics of grievance.
We should also scrutinize the motives of those who steer these demands. Too often governments and activists use historic grievances to consolidate power, sideline dissenting voices, and extract payouts that may never reach the families they claim to help. Genuine restitution requires transparency, local buy-in, and priorities that restore opportunity instead of perpetuating victimhood.
On policy grounds, reparations and land-restoration claims pose enormous legal and practical problems, from chain-of-title issues to accountability for how settlement money is spent. Germany’s recognition and partial gestures are meaningful; any final settlement should focus on durable reconciliation and rebuilding, not theatrical gestures that simply enrich the grievance industry.
Americans who work and pay taxes should watch this debate and resist the idea that their hard-earned dollars should bankroll settlements rooted in events from another century and another continent. We can honor history and mourn victims while insisting that solutions be practical, accountable, and directed toward prosperity — not endless payments that reward political posturing.
