1 Call for Articles Solidarity with Namibia: Transnational Perspectives on the Anti- Apartheid Movement in Divided Germany (working title) Editors Dr Martha Akawa-Shikufa, University of Namibia Dr Norman Aselmeyer, University of Oxford Dr Katharina HoDmann, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg Dr Ellen Ndeshi Namhila, University of Namibia Topic The book examines the German Anti-Apartheid Movement and its solidarity work with present-day Namibia (1960–1990). It brings together German, Namibian, and international authors and oDers transnational perspectives on East and West German solidarity initiatives in the context of the so- called Cold War. Book description The publication examines both West and East German support for the resistance against apartheid and, closely linked to it, the struggle for independence in present-day Namibia. Following the end of German colonial rule in 1919, the territory of “South West Africa” came under South African control as a League of Nations mandate. Rather than being administered as a separate entity, the territory was treated as South Africa’s so-called “fifth province”. Political representation was restricted to the white minority – primarily German settlers – who were the only ones granted a voice in the exclusively white South African parliament. The gradual implementation of apartheid in Namibia began in 1948. As recent scholarship has shown, “South West Africa” in fact served as a testing ground for South Africa’s apartheid ideology (Gordon 2021). South Africa’s racist population policies thus built on systems of segregation between white settlers and the Black population that had already been established during the German colonial era (Lerp 2016). In 1960, SWAPO (South West Africa People’s Organisation) was founded as a political resistance movement, advocating for the abolition of apartheid and ultimately the independence of the country. When the UN revoked South Africa’s mandate to control Namibia in 1966, an armed struggle against the racist occupation began. In the shadow of the “Cold War”, which was violently unfolding especially in Africa and Asia, Namibia’s liberation movement turned into a global battleground. Starting with exiled South African and Namibian activists, a global protest campaign emerged in the 1960s, primarily in the form of boycott calls, demanding an end to apartheid and the independence of Namibia. This movement also reached a broad public in Germany, albeit with substantial diDerences between East and West: The GDR (East Germany) had been involved since 1960, intensifying its support for SWAPO from the early 1970s onward through a solidarity fund (“Solidaritätskomitee”). Although clearly defined by state directives, the forms of this solidarity were quite diverse. For example, solidarity committees were established, fundraising campaigns organized, and regular solidarity bazaars held to provide material support to liberation movements. Church circles were also actively involved. However, individual initiatives seem to have been relatively limited. Occasional spaces for individual initiative did appear to exist, as exemplified by Jürgen Krause’s involvement in the “Schule der Freundschaft” (School of Friendship) project. Nevertheless, the