People of namibia africa
In 1939 those in Southwest Africa of German origin were put under house or farm arrest and then in 1940 transferred to South Africa to be interned in camps, where they would remain until 1946. In all 3200 Germans took up the opportunity of acquiring citizenship.Īt the start of World War II, South Africa aligned itself to the United Kingdom by a slim majority, and on 6 September 1939 South Africa officially declared war on Germany and the Axis. German immigration as well as the spread of the German language were also expressively encouraged. This so-called 'degermanisation' policy only changed after the London Agreement of 23 October 1923, according to which the remaining Germans were afforded British citizenship. During the subsequent 'south-africanisation' of Southwest Africa, around half of the remaining 15 000 German residents were deported with their farms being handed over to South Africans. The governance of Southwest Africa was transferred to South Africa by the League of Nations. Migration stagnated after the end of World War I, when Germany lost all sovereignty over its colonies in the Treaty of Versailles. This migration flow reached its high point during the first Lüderitz diamond discoveries. After Southwest Africa was officially declared a German colony in 1884, as well as receiving recognition by England, an increasing number of migrants arrived from Germany. Later traders arrived and after the landing of the ship Tilly in Lüderitz Bay in 1883, a rising number of German officials, settlers, workmen and soldiers. They engaged in cultural work, but also laid the groundwork for later colonisation. From 1805 the Albrecht brothers, followed by a number of other missionaries, settled in Southwest Africa. Both institutions worked closely together towards the end of the 18th century, as the Rheinish Missionary Society did not yet have any established facilities in Southern Africa. The first Germans in Namibia were missionaries, initially sent through the London Missionary Society and then later also the Rheinish Missionary Society. However, virtually all German Namibians are fluent in Afrikaans and are either familiar with English or can speak it fluently. Unlike in South Africa, German Namibians have not been absorbed into the larger Afrikaans and English speaking communities. This is despite the fact that in most areas and in Windhoek, the broader lingua franca is Afrikaans while English is now often the sole language used in many other spheres such as government or on public signs and product packaging. Often German Namibian youth attend university or technical school in Germany. Television, music and books from Germany are widely popular in the community. German Namibians retain a fully-fledged culture in German within Namibia, with German-medium schools, churches, and broadcasting. Many Namibians of German descent still speak German and prefer classification as Namibian Germans not as Afrikaners. However, the numbers of German Namibians, rather than of Namibian speakers of German, are uncertain. Today, English is the country's sole official language, but about 30,000 Namibians of German descent (around 2% of the country's overall population) and possibly 15,000 black Namibians (many of whom returned from East Germany after Namibian independence) still speak German or Namibian Black German, respectively. The German settlers were allowed to remain and, until independence in 1990, German remained an official language of the territory alongside Afrikaans and English.
In 1915, during the course of World War I, Germany lost its colonial possessions, including South West Africa (see History of Namibia) after the war, the former German colony was administered as a South African mandate. Small numbers of Germans subsequently immigrated there, many coming as soldiers ( German: Schutztruppe), traders, diamond miners, or colonial officials. The German government, eager to gain overseas possessions, annexed the territory soon after, proclaiming it German South West Africa ( German: Deutsch-Südwestafrika). In 1883, the German trader Adolf Lüderitz bought what would become the southern coast of Namibia from Josef Frederiks II, a chief of the local Oorlam people, and founded the city of Lüderitz.
German Namibians ( German: Deutschnamibier) are a community of people descended from ethnic German colonists who settled in present-day Namibia.