30.09.2020 Rejection of claim for compensation payments for Herero and Nama confirmed

On September 24, a U.S. Court of Appeals confirmed the rejection of a complaint by a U.S. district court regarding compensation payments for the genocide of Herero and Nama committed in German Southwest Africa.

In 2017, representatives of Herero and Nama filed a lawsuit against the Federal Republic of Germany in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. They demanded compensation for the victims of the genocide in the former colony of German Southwest Africa, now Namibia. The plaintiffs asserted that Germany had used money from the expropriation of Herero and Nama to purchase real estate in the United States. Because of these financial connections, the immunity for foreign states that is valid in the USA must be lifted.

However, J. Swain, a judge in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, considered this interpretation to be too far-reaching and therefore the lawsuit was not allowed. This view has now been confirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the second Circuit.