WINDHOEK, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Germany will hand over some personal items used by Namibia's legendary liberation fighter Kaptein Hendrik Witbooi, said Namibia's Minister of Education, Arts and Culture Katrina Hanse-Himarwa here on Thursday.
The items include a Bible and a whip, to be returned on Feb. 26 amid broader calls for restitution of looted cultural goods and repatriation of human remains estranged during the colonial era from Africa, Latin America and Asia, said Hanse-Himarwa.
Witbooi escaped from an attack by Germans in April 1893, when items of his were robbed. Currently, the Bible, in which Witbooi added annotations regarding biblical texts of significance during battles against colonial rulers, is held at the Linden Museum in Stuttgart, Germany.
Along with the return, a delegation will pay a symbolic visit to Hornkranz, 130 km south of Windhoek, where the legacies were alienated from Witbooi's possessions by German colonial troops.
The original Bible, an authorized certified copy, and a digital copy will be kept in government custody, according to the official. An official handover ceremony is set to be presided over by Namibian President Hage Geingob on March 1.
"This is a state-to-state handover," Hanse-Himarwa explained.
Witbooi's letter journals are inscribed in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) "Memory of the World" register.
In 2018, 32 Namibian human remains were repatriated from Germany.
