Hendrik Witbooi (|Gâbemab !Nanseb) Bible and Whip Repatriation Case

Case Study

Hendrik Witbooi (|Gâbemab !Nanseb) Bible and Whip Repatriation Case

At a Glance

Status

Contact

Researcher

Katrine Hoandi Vigne

Belonging

Hendrik Witbooi (|Gâbemab !Nanseb) was a Gaob (King) of the !Khowese Nama people of Namibia, who ruled between 1888 – 1905. Amongst his personal belongings were a riding whip and a Bible.

Place of Origin

The |Khowese Nama kingdom (one of the 13 kingdoms in Great Namaland) in Hornkranz, Namibia.

Significance

The |Khowese Nama kingdom (one of the 13 kingdoms in Great Namaland) in Hornkranz, Namibia.

Current Location

The whip is accessioned into the National Museum of Namibia and the Bible is accessioned into the National Archives of Namibia, in Windhoek. The belongings were previously held at the Linden Museum in Struttgart, Germany.

Circumstances of Removal

In 1884, Germany occupied Herero and Nama land in Namibia, under the auspices of protection treaties. When Gaob Hendrik Witbooi began ruling the |Khowese Nama kingdom in 1888, he and other leaders rejected and resisted these treaties, as they saw them for what they truly were – strategies to divide-and rule the different cultural groups in order to annex the territories. He led the anti-imperialist resistance during the 19th century, which resulted in  a prolonged battle with German colonisers.

A brutal attack was launched on Hornkranz, Namibia on 12 April 1893 by German colonial Schutztruppe soldiers. They indiscriminately killed 10 men and 75 women and children, raided and looted the belongings of the inhabitants of this area, and burnt the settlement to the ground, along with the bodies still inside. During this attack the whip and Bible belonging to Gaob Hendrik Witbooi were stolen. By 1902, P. Wassmansdorf from the colonial department of the Foreign Office was in possession of Gaob Hendrik Witbooi’s whip and Bible. He donated these belongings  to the Linden Museum,  Stuttgart Germany.

Impact of Loss

The pillaging of Gaob Hendrik Witbooi’s whip and Bible are a symbolic reminder of the brutal extermination of the |Khowese Nama – and the genocide of over half of the Nama population as a whole from 1904 – 1907 – that made this kind of removal possible. This aspect of Namibian-German history is often suppressed.

Chronology of Restitution Efforts

In 2001, The Archives of Anti-Colonial Resistance and Liberation Struggle programmes [AACLRS] was formed. This was a collaborative initiative between Germany and Namibia. Its main function was to identify, collect and publicise materials in German collections that were related to the history of Namibia, but were largely inaccessible due to colonial archival practices.  

In 2007, an exhibition took place at the Linden Museum,  where Gaob Hendrik Witbooi’s whip and Bible were put on display. The narrative around the belongings confirmed that they were originally from Hornkranz, Namibia, and that they had been acquired under violent circumstances. An ACCLRS Committee member who was acquainted with Thomas Michel, the Director of the Linden Museum, made contact with him, to request the return of the belongings. 

The request was denied. 

On 22 April 2010, Dr. Gisela Splett, deputy of the Green Party (GRÜNE) in Germany initiated a Baden-Württemberg state parliament interpellation around the restitution of Namibian belongings, human ancestors and archives. When questioned about Hendrik Witbooi’s whip and Bible, the Minister of Science, Research and Art, Dr. Frankenberg stated  that the belongings were owned by the Linden Museum, but that “appropriate return searches have not yet been made”. With regards to the further inferred question around whether contact had been made with the Namibian government or affected community, he responded “there are currently no corresponding contacts”. 

Despite this public acknowledgement of their possession of Namibian belongings, no further action was taken.

In 2013, Neville Gertze, the Namibian ambassador in Berlin, approached the state of Baden-Württemberg for the return of Gaob Hendrik Witbooi’s Bible. Although it is unclear what the response to his request was, it is widely recognised that his communications efforts over the following years positively contributed to the negotiations to have the Bible returned.

In 2016, with growing public criticism of ethnological museums, and particularly collections that were obtained during Germany’s colonial era, the Linden Museum initiated the “Discomforting Heritage: Dealing with Colonial-Era Objects in Ethnological Museums” project. The objectives of this project were to establish the context under which belongings in the museum’s collection had been acquired from Namibia, Cameroon and the Bismarck Archipelago, and by whom. They also sought to determine whether further studies could be conducted jointly with descendant communities, and whether restitution could be pursued. The research findings from this project were published in 2018. The report spotlighted Gaob Hendrik Witbooi’s whip and Bible, as one of 2,220 belongings from Namibia, and provided further details about the period of their acquisition and the colonial actors who had been responsible for the looting.

In 2018, off the back of ongoing communications with the Namibian ambassador and the report, the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Arts launched the “Namibia-Initiative”; a strategy to address its colonial legacy. The project outlined 4 areas of activity: dealing with museum collections, teaching colonialism in schools, colonialism in literature, and artistic perspectives on the colonial legacy. EUR 1,250,00 was set aside for the initiative. Partners from Germany, and partners from Namibia including the Museums Association of Namibia, the National Museum, the National Archives, the University of Namibia, Ovaherero Genocide foundation and Mahaherero Royal House Traditional Authority  were brought together to activate this initiative. The return of Gaob Hendrik Witbooi’s whip and Bible became a critical point of departure for discussions around the types of engagements that would need to be entered into, to fulfil the ambitions of the initiative.

From the 30th of September until the 3rd of October 2018 a German delegation, comprising representatives from the the Baden-Württemberg Ministry for Science, Research and Arts, The University of Freiburg, the Pedagogical University of Freiburg, the Regional Archive, the Linden Museum and Academy Schloss Solitude, visited Namibia. The objective of the visit was to explore the possibilities of various projects envisioned in the Namibia-Initiative, and to assess Namibia’s “readiness” to receive Gaob Hendrik Witbooi’s whip and Bible. To this end, the delegation met with two separate stakeholder groups:

  • the Namibian government – who regarded Gaob Hendrik Witbooi as a national hero, and sought to have the belongings returned as national assets, and
  • the Witbooi Royal House – the royal governing structure of the |Khowese people who regarded the whip and Bible as their family heirlooms.

This distinction in perspectives of the belongings, as well as a contested chieftaincy amongst the |Khowese Nama people would  later become a point of contention between the two stakeholder groups. 

Following the visit to Namibia, preparations began for the return of Hendrik Witbooi’s whip and Bible in both Namibia and Germany. The Baden-Württemberg Ministry for Science, Research and Arts consulted with an international law professor, to determine whether the Witbooi Royal House would have a legal claim to the belongings. They were advised that since the community would not be able to meet the burden of proof of ownership – due to a lack of documentation and lack of clarity around the belongings’ provenance – they were not legally entitled to the return of the belongings. Despite this, the Ministry insisted that the Witbooi Royal House be involved in the return; a desire that was expressly stated to the Namibian government.

In February 2019, the Nama Traditional Leaders Association’s (NTLA) filed an interdict with the Baden-Württemberg Constitutional Court, stating that it was unlawful that the affected community [the |Khowese Nama people] were not included in the negotiations, and that once returned the Namibian Government would keep Gaob Hendrik Witbooi’s whip and Bible as state property.

A legal letter was also sent to the Linden Museum, advising them to halt the return of belongings, up until the court case had been resolved. The interdict and letter stemmed from an increasingly strained relationship between the Namibian State and affected communities, who had not been afforded the platform to meaningfully participate in negotiations concerning colonial reparative justice, and acts of restitution that flowed therefrom. Denise Burgert, deputy head of communications in the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Arts responded to the legal letter advising that the whip and Bible would be returned to the Namibian government “as these are the wishes of both the Witbooi family as well as the Namibian government.” The Witbooi Royal House concurred, and did not support the interdict. The interdict was also rejected by the Constitutional Court for procedural reasons.

On 15 February 2019, ten days before the whip and Bible were due to arrive in Namibia, the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture held a press conference, to outline the planned proceedings for the return. The Witbooi Royal House then released a statement  expressing their dissatisfaction with the lack of deference that had been shown to their existing decision-making structures and royal protocols, their exclusion from logistical decision-making processes, and the suggested order and manner in which the belongings would be received and then travelled through various regions of the country.

Tensions ran high, and an emergency meeting was held the night before and into the morning of the scheduled day of arrival. The matter was temporarily resolved by agreeing that, for the official repatriation ceremony, the great grand-daughters of Gaob Hendrik Witbooi would receive the belongings from  Theresia Bauer,  Baden-Württemberg’s Minister of Science, Research and Arts and they would then hand them over to the Namibian President, His Excellency Dr. Hage G. Geingob, for safe keeping. This was to symbolise the Witbooi Royal House as the rightful owner of the belongings.

On 15 February 2019, ten days before the whip and Bible were due to arrive in Namibia, the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture held a press conference, to outline the planned proceedings for the return. The Witbooi Royal House then released a statement  expressing their dissatisfaction with the lack of deference that had been shown to their existing decision-making structures and royal protocols, their exclusion from logistical decision-making processes, and the suggested order and manner in which the belongings would be received and then travelled through various regions of the country. Tensions ran high, and an emergency meeting was held the night before and into the morning of the scheduled day of arrival.

The matter was temporarily resolved by agreeing that, for the official repatriation ceremony, the great grand-daughters of Gaob Hendrik Witbooi would receive the belongings from  Theresia Bauer,  Baden-Württemberg’s Minister of Science, Research and Arts and they would then hand them over to the Namibian President, His Excellency Dr. Hage G. Geingob, for safe keeping. This was to symbolise the Witbooi Royal House as the rightful owner of the belongings.

Despite this faux pas, plans for the day continued. The whip and Bible were displayed to high level officials, and then transported by the German delegates and police convoy to the Document Warehouse in Windhoek. The box of belongings was then placed in the data hosting room, the highest security room in the warehouse. The room was locked, and the building was placed under police surveillance and guard up until the whip and Bible could be transported to Gibeon, where the descendants of Hendrik Witbooi reside, and where the official repatriation ceremony would be held.

On 28 February 2019, the whip and Bible began their journey to the Witbooi family in Gibeon, along with two human ancestors’ skulls that had also been repatriated in 2018. The box containing the whip and Bible, and the skulls of the genocide victims, travelled in a police car with Dr Inés de Castro, Director of the Linden Museum. This is because the belongings were still officially owned by the Linden Museum. The remainder of the German delegation travelled separately in a bus. 

There were a handful of stops planned along the way. At Hornkranz, where the brutal killings had occurred and where the belongings had been looted, and at Rehoboth, Kalkrand and Mariental, areas where many |Khowese Nama people live. The intention was to give as many people from the community as possible the opportunity to pray over their ancestors, and to view the whip and Bible. Due to travel delays, and stops that ran over time, the procession only arrived in Gibeon after nightfall.

This after members of the Witbooi Royal House and a procession of horses (a spiritually significant animal to the Witbooi) had waited in the sun for several hours. In light of the late arrival, and the events already planned for the next day, Katrina Hanse-Himarwa, Minister of Education, Arts and Culture in Namibia, decided  to cancel the traditional welcoming ceremony in Gibeon. This would have involved  a cleansing ceremony at Khaxa-tsûs – a historically significant fountain for the |Khowese people – and a memorial service at the homestead.

The cancellation of the ceremony was considered highly disrespectful by the Witbooi Royal House, and its junior counsellors considered cancelling the repatriation ceremony altogether. An urgent meeting was called at Hardap Resort where the German delegation was staying. The significance of each particular aspect of the traditional welcoming ceremony was explained in detail by the Witbooi Royal House junior counsellors, and the German delegates offered a sincere apology, having noted the magnitude of the spiritual implications of the cancellation. It was then decided that the repatriation ceremony would proceed the following day.

On 1 March 2019 a large and diverse contingent gathered to attend the official repatriation ceremony in Gibeon, including all presidents who had held office: Sam Nujoma, Hifikepunye Pohamba and Hage G. Geingob. The Namibian Defence Force was responsible for ushering two wooden boxes containing the whip and the Bible, and the skulls of one Nama and one Herero human ancestor into the gathering. The military band played the Namibian national anthem, “Land of the Brave”. The wooden boxes were handed to Marina Mubusisi, Chief Curator of the National Museum of Namibia and Dr Inés de Castro, Director of the Linden museum, to unpack and place in an empty glass box. 

Speeches were made before the items were handled by multiple dignitaries wearing white gloves. The Bible was first handed over, to the Baden-Württemberg Minister of Science, Research and Arts , who passed it to the President of Namibia, who passed it to the three great grand-daughters of Gaob Hendrik Witbooi, who passed it on to Namibian Minister of Education, Arts and Culture, who passed it to the Chief Curator Mubusisi, who placed it back in the glass box. The whip was handed over in a similar fashion. 

A replica of the Bible was kept by Witbooi’s three great grand-daughters; Ana Jacobs, Christina Frederick and Elizabeth Kock. Attendees were then invited to walk in single file next to the glass case to view Hendrik Witbooi’s whip and Bible, and the human ancestors. The viewing was accompanied by the Gibeon Brass Band playing traditional Khowese songs about Gaob Hendrik Witbooi, and the military band, who replayed the national anthem. Ownership rights of the whip and Bible were then signed over to the Namibian Government. The signatories were the Namibian Minister of Education, Arts and Culture and Baden-Württemberg Minister of Science, Research and Arts.

Following the repatriation ceremony the whip was accessioned into the National Museum of Namibia, and the Bible was accessioned into the National Archives of Namibia later that month. Government officials mentioned several times that the intention was for the State to offer a safe-keeping space for the belongings up until a Hendrik Witbooi Museum was built in Gibeon. However, the details of how and by whom the museum would be built were not clearly articulated.

Current Status

Contact

Gaob Hendrik Witbooi’s Bible is still currently held at the National Archives of Namibia, where it can be viewed with permission from the Chief Archivist. His whip is still housed in the National Museum of Namibia and is accessible for viewing and loan by the public. The Hendrik Witbooi Museum has yet to be built.

Contents

Katrine Hoandi Vigne

Case Study Researcher

Katrine Hoandi Vigne

Katrine Hoandi Vigne is a Namibian-Danish heritage practitioner. In  2018, she undertook a Master of Arts in Sustainable Heritage Management at the Aarhus University in Denmark. The focus of her dissertation, “Restitution of a whip and Bible – A postcolonial story of museum restitution”, was the contentious return of Hendrik Witbooi’s Whip and Bible to Namibia. As part of her Masters programme she took up a year long internship at the Museums Association of Namibia. Katrine’s specific knowledge of the nuances of this case study was complemented by her experience of working with Namibia-centred colonial and cultural heritage issues, alongside fellow cultural and heritage practitioners, and creatives, from Namibia. 

Methodology and Field Experience

This research case study was developed from Katrine’s existing extensive research into the return of Gaob Hendrik Witbooi’s whip and Bible, which included archival research, oral interviews, and desktop research – including the extensive media coverage of the repatriation. During the second cohort, she conducted further oral interviews with Namibian museum professionals, and |Khowese Nama community members, with the support of a local translator.

She found it most difficult to gain access to information around the negotiations that preceded the repatriation. She attributes this lack of transparency to state-to-state politics and diplomacy. She also found that consent forms were a point of contention for community members, who have become suspicious of extractive research, and government representatives who are conducting research. She feels that creating consent forms in  languages other than English, and in non-written format would be helpful, as most of the knowledge holders she engaged with did not speak English or were sometimes illiterate. She also found that interview guides and the interviewer/interviewee format can be restrictive, as she learned the more nuanced details about the repatriation when people were sharing their stories, as opposed to being prompted with a set of questions.

Duration of research:

This research data was gathered as part of the second case study research cohort, from November 2023 – February 2024. The information in this case study profile reflects the status of this restitution case as at February 2024.