Adolf Hitler set to conquer local elections on South Africa’s doorstep
Adolf Hitler Uunona says his father likely named him after the German dictator without fully understanding the Nazi leader’s beliefs…
A Namibian politician named Adolf Hitler Uunona is currently on course to secure his fifth term in office, running for the role of district administrator in the Ompundja region.
Uunona, who has been burdened with the infamous Nazi tyrant’s name, previously went viral in 2020 after winning a sweeping victory in local elections. Voters are reportedly set to return the ruling Swapo party politician with another huge majority.
Adolf Hitler Uunona has insisted that he has “nothing to do” with Nazi ideology. He confirmed that his father had named him after the German dictator, likely without understanding “what Adolf Hitler stood for”, according to reports.
The politician confessed that he viewed the name as “totally normal” as a child, only realising later that his namesake “wanted to conquer the whole world”. Uunona confirmed that he generally goes by Adolf Uunona, adding that it is now “too late” to officially change his name.
Namibia-Germany history
The controversy is particularly acute given Namibia’s long and fraught history with Germany.
Known historically as German South West Africa, South Africa’s neighbour was a German colony from 1884 until World War I. During this colonial period, German soldiers systematically slaughtered approximately 65,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama people between 1904 and 1908 in what has been labelled the first genocide of the 20th century.
Survivors of this brutal campaign were subjected to forced labour and sent to prison camps, with these colonial atrocities seen by some as having “foreshadowed the barbarity of the Nazi holocaust” unleashed decades later.
The original Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party oversaw the systematic murder of six million Jewish people in the Holocaust after taking power in 1933. However, the modern politician insists he is not following in those tyrannical footsteps, joking that having the name “does not mean I want to conquer Oshana” or strive for “world domination”.
Namibia, which was eventually granted independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990, still retains German-named towns and a small German-speaking community. Germany has acknowledged a “special responsibility” towards Namibia due to their shared colonial past, but negotiations for reparations continue.