Germany is being sued over the alleged genocide of 100,000 men, women and children in Namibia by colonial troops.

Known as the first genocide of the 20th century, the massacre took place in the early 1900s when Namibia was a German colony known as South-West Africa.

The atrocities are alleged to have taken place in early 1904 when the Herero and Nama peoples rose up in an insurrection stamped out by German imperial troops.

Image: Troops in Namibia at the time of the Herero revolt of 1904

Representatives filed a class action suit for reparations "on behalf of all Ovaherero and Nama worldwide" in New York on Thursday.

As well as the unspecified sums of compensation for descendants, the plaintiffs are also seeking "to be included in any negotiation between Germany and Namibia" which has already begun, and demand that no settlements should be reached unless they are among the signatories.


The plaintiffs - some of whom are from New York - are seeking "reparations and compensation for the genocide" under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 US law often invoked in human rights cases.

They have also brought federal common law and New York state law claims.

Image: A visitor looks at documents related to the massacre during an exhibition

A 1985 United Nations report said the "massacre" of Hereros qualified as a genocide.

Germany has so far refused to pay reparations, and has cited development aid worth hundreds of millions of euros that it has sent to Namibia since its independence from South Africa in 1990.

The suit alleges that a "campaign of annihilation" led by German General Lothar von Trotha saw tens of thousands of indigenous people killed.

It claims women and girls were raped by colonists, thousands of square miles of land were taken without compensation, and forced labour was used.

The plaintiffs include Vekuii Rukoro, identified as the paramount chief of the Ovaherero people, David Frederick, chief and chairman of the Nama Traditional Authorities Association, and the non-profit Association of the Ovaherero Genocide in the USA, Inc.