MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Namibia's Adolf Hitler poised for re-election win

Uunona explained he would not be changing his name because “it's too late for that”

Voters in the Ompundja in Namibia's Oshana Region are expected to re-elect local politician Adolf Hitler Uunona in Wednesday's local elections. Uunona, a 59-year-old councilor, represents the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), the ruling party of Namibia since its independence in 1990.

Uunona is highly favored to secure the majority of votes, according to forecasts from the country's electoral commission. He previously won his 2020 re-election bid with a commanding 85% of the vote.

The politician has repeatedly had to address his highly controversial name, which is a legacy of Namibia’s history as a German colony from 1884 to 1915.

Following his election in 2020, Uunona stressed that his name was chosen by his father without fully grasping its ramifications, insisting that he “didn’t have a choice.”

“My father gave me this name Adolf Hitler, but it does not mean I have Adolf Hitler’s character or resemble that of Adolf Hitler of Germany.” He underscored that he has no connection to the infamous historical figure: “Hitler was a controversial person who captured and killed people across the globe. I am not like him.” In an interview with Germany's Bild, he pointed out that he understood the significance only as he grew up, adding, “I have nothing to do with any of these things.” Despite the controversy, he has insisted he will not change his name, noting, “It's in all official documents. It's too late for that.”

The use of Germanic names remains common in Namibia, but the association is a sensitive issue, particularly as the country continues to push for reparations from Germany for the genocide committed against the Ovaherero and Nama people between 1904 and 1908.

The presence of Germanic first names, like Adolf, in Namibia is a direct consequence of the country's past as a German colony known as German South West Africa, which left a lasting cultural and linguistic footprint that persisted beyond Germany's World War I defeat.

Even after World War II, German influence remained strong. Some areas of Namibia became home to Nazis who fled Germany, with reports even decades later that some German-Namibians still used Nazi salutes among themselves. A German-speaking minority remains to this day in Namibia, and German is still recognized as one of the country's national languages, though not an official one.