Heinrich Vedder

Hermann Heinrich Vedder (born July 3, 1876 in Westerenger , Westphalia , † April 26, 1972 in Okahandja , South West Africa ) was a German missionary , linguist , ethnologist and historian . From 1903 he was a missionary of the Rheinische Missionsgesellschaft in German South West Africa .

Vedder was very connected to the Germans in South Africa and worked for many years in the publication of the ev.-luth. The German Church Federation South and South-West Africa Church Federal Council in Windhoek published African homeland calendar with. His best-known works include the work on the Bergdama (or Damara ), the history of South West Africa, which has also been translated into English, up to the death of Maharero in 1890, and his collaboration on the work on the indigenous peoples of South West Africa.

Life

Vedder was accepted as an aspirant in the mission house of the Rhenish Mission in Barmen on April 1, 1895 . His six-year training began on October 1, 1895, in which, in addition to Bible studies and some elementary subjects, English, Dutch, Latin and Greek were also taught. After his military service, he began another four years in seminary, where he received Hebrew and his theological, biblical training. On August 5, 1903, he was with five other candidates ordained . Missionary Vedder was appointed for missionary work in what was then German South West Africa .

Just a few months later, on November 28, 1903, he boarded the steamer "Helene Woermann" with the missionaries Schaible and Eich and reached Swakopmund in German South West Africa on December 27, 1903 . In Scheppmannsdorf am Kuiseb he learned the basic terms of the Nama language . Due to the uprising of the Herero and Nama , Vedder had to break off his lessons in Scheppmannsdorf and continue with missionary Olpp in Otjimbingue . In Karibib he learned the Herero language from missionary Dannert for five months and was briefly instructed in the Ndonga language by the Finnish missionary Martti Rautanen .

In January 1905 Vedder took over his mission in Swakopmund, where a prefabricated wooden church was built in 1905/06. On October 1, 1905, Vedder married his partner who had come from Germany on Hälbich's farm. He then went to a conference in Okahandja . There he taught at the Augustineum for several decades .

Vedder's first task in Swakopmund was to collect the parishes . His work was for the Damara and Herero , the Germans and members of the protection force , the prison hospital and the civil hospital. Vedder also preached in the Nama and Herero languages ​​at church services.

The fate of the approximately 1500 prisoners of the Herero people in the Swakopmund concentration camp moved him very much. With the help of local mission congregations, he was able to distribute clothing to the prisoners who were not used to the harsh coastal climate. In a conversation with the governor Friedrich von Lindequist he achieved better treatment of the prisoners.

From 1922 until his retirement, Vedder served as a missionary in Okahandja, where he died on April 26, 1972. He was buried on April 28, 1972 in Okahandja with a large number of "blacks" and "whites" in attendance. A district of Okahandja is named in his honor Veddersdal ( afrikaans for Vedders valley ).

The mountain dama

Vedder's monograph on the people and culture of the Namibian Damara is considered a classic in Africanist ethnography . Before the immigration of the Bantu-speaking Herero and the predominance of the Khoisan-speaking Nama groups, the Damara were probably the only inhabitants of South West Africa alongside the San . They were mainly hunters and gatherers , but also cultivated horticulture and raised small animals. They have already mastered the production of copper and iron and their processing.

Works

• Heinrich Vedder: The mountain dam . 2 volumes. Hamburg: Friederichsen, 1923 (Hamburg University. Treatises in the field of foreign studies , volumes 11 & 14, series B, ethnology, cultural history and languages, volumes 7 & 8)
• Heinrich Vedder: Grammar of the Nama language , 1908
• Carl Hugo Linsingen Hahn; Heinrich Vedder; Louis Fourie: The native tribes of South West Africa. Cass, London 1966.
• Heinrich Vedder: The old South West Africa - South West Africa's history until Maharero's death in 1890, Martin Warneck Verlag, Berlin 1934.
• Adolf Schlettwein , Julius Lips , Berengar von Zastrow , Heinrich Vetter et al: The native law: Sitten u. Customary rights d. Natives d. former German colonies in Africa a. in d. South seas. Ges. In the order d. former colonial administration of officials u. Missionaries d. Colonies, sorted a. commented from early on. Colonial officials, ethnologists, etc. Lawyers . Vol. 2: Togo, Cameroon, South-West Africa, the South Seas colonies . Strecker and Schröder publishing house, Stuttgart 1929
• Heinrich Vedder: South West Africa in Early Times. Being the story of South West Africa up to the date of Maharero's death in 1890. Cass & Co., London. 1966
• Heinrich Vedder: South West Africa in early times. Namibia Scientific Society , Windhoek 2016, ISBN 978-99945-76-42-5 .
• Heinrich Vedder: Introduction to the history of South West Africa. Windhoek, John Meinert, oJ,
• Heinrich Vedder: Short stories from a long life. Wuppertal-Barmen, publishing house of the Rheinische Missionsgesellschaft, 1953,
• Heinrich Vedder: African animal stories. Barmen, Verlag des Missionshauses, 1925. 3rd edition.
• Heinrich Vedder: From the Bushmen. Barmen (Mission House), approx. 1910 (Rhenish Missionsschrift No. 189),

literature

• Wahrhold Drascher, Hans Joachim Rust (Ed.): Festschrift Dr. hc Heinrich Vedder: a life for South West Africa. 2., unchanged. Ed. Windhoek, SWA Wissenschaftl. Society , [1965] - With bibliography H. Vedder (pp. 158–165)
• Walter Moritz: Dr. Heinrich Vedder., From Ravensburger silk weaver to famous Africa missionary. Kreuzfeld, Lempp Verlag, 1981
• Working group of the German school associations in South West Africa (Ed.): Heimat Südwest - A reading book for South West Africa. Hanover, Berlin, Darmstadt, Dortmund Hermann Schroedel Verlag 1969
• Julius Baumann: Dr. Heinrich Vedder, the helper for locals and whites . In: Die Muschel , Stich, Swakopmund 1967, pp. 28–41
• Julius Baumann: Mission and ecumenism in South West Africa depicted in the life work of Hermann Heinrich Vedder . In: Ecumenical Studies, Vol. VII, Leiden / Cologne 1965
• Paul Gerhard Aring:  Heinrich Vedder. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 12, Bautz, Herzberg 1997, ISBN 3-88309-068-9 , Sp. 1178-1179.

Web links

• Literature by and about Heinrich Vedder in the catalog of the Stabi Berlin
• Literature by and about Heinrich Vedder in the catalog of the German National Library
• Heinrich Vedder's 'The Bergdama' An Annotated Translation of the German Original with Additional Ethnographic Material by Adi Inskeep
• Photo of Vedder's home in Okahandja

supporting documents

1. ^ Berlin State Library : bibliographical evidence .
2. ↑ MJ Swart: kultuuralmanak Afrikaanse. 1980, Auckland Park: Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge.
3. ^ Walter Moritz: Dr. Heinrich Vedder, From Ravensburger silk weaver to famous Africa missionary . Kreuzfeld, Lempp Verlag, 1973
4. ↑ Okahandja - tranquil town with great flair ( Memento of the original from August 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ^ German National Library : bibliographical evidence .