Nora Schimming-Chase

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Nora Schimming-Chase (born December 1, 1940 in Windhoek , South West Africa ; † March 13, 2018 there ) was a Namibian politician and civil rights activist .

person

Origin, studies and abroad

Nora Schimming is the daughter of Otto Schimming (1908–2005), Namibia's first black teacher. Both father and mother come from mixed relationships and each had German fathers. Nora has two sisters: Othilie and Charlotte. She grew up in the Windhoek district of Hochland Park , attended the MH-Greef Primary School in Windhoek, graduated from Trafalgar High School in Cape Town in 1958 and received a Bachelor's degree in Education from the University of Cape Town in 1961 .

With the help of a scholarship, she began to study political science and African studies at the Free University of Berlin in 1962 (Magister 1968). At that time, Nora Schimming was also working for ARD and the German Development Service (DED), worked as a television journalist for the German political program “ Der Internationale Frühschoppen ” (1968–1974) and took courses as an exchange student at Columbia University in New York (1962 -1967). During her time in West Berlin , she met the West Indian industrial engineering student William Chase, whom she later married. In 1970 she began a doctoral thesis at the Free University of Berlin on the sociological aspects of the short stories by the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe .

Schimming was a member of the South West African National Union (SWANU) from 1962 and initially served as party secretary for education. From 1974 to 1978 she headed the SWANU international office in Dar es Salaam .

Return to Namibia, diplomatic and political activity

Under the amnesty of UN Security Council Resolution 435 , the Chase family returned to South West Africa in 1978 . In 1981 Nora Schimming-Chase became SWANU party secretary for foreign affairs , and in 1982 she was elected Vice President of SWANU. From 1982 to 1989 she served as Secretary General of SWANU. In addition to her political activities, Schimming-Chase also had significant influence in the establishment of the Church Council of Namibia (CCN) during the 1980s and campaigned for women's rights in Namibia , among other things . From 1987 to 1989 she held a leading position at the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva .

With Namibia's independence in 1990, Schimming-Chase took on various diplomatic posts in the Foreign Ministry : from 1990 as State Secretary for Multilateral Relations, 1991 as interim chargé d' affaires vis-à-vis France , 1992 to 1996 as ambassador to Germany and from 1994 to 1996 also Austria , and representative to the organizations of the United Nations for Industrial Development (UNIDO) and Atomic Energy (IAEA).

In 1999 Schimming-Chase became a founding member of the Congress Democrats (CoD) and from 2000 a member of the National Assembly . As a result of the poor performance of the Congress Democrats in the general election in November 2009 , Schimming-Chase withdrew from politics. She last lived in Windhoek , divorced from her husband .

Publications

  • 1981: Namibia: the so-called small apartheid , issue 1, p. 28 f., Courage , Berlin
  • 1984: Namibia: Africa's last colony , 48 min., Documentary v. Paul Hamann
  • 1986: Nora's Namibia , 86 min., Documentary v. Norbert Bunge
  • 1991: The supreme law , 37 min., Educational film v. Jackson K. Swartz
  • 1992: Status and perspectives of Namibian-German relations , German-Namibian Society eV, Düsseldorf

Awards

literature

  • Christine Qunta: Women in Southern Africa . Allison & Busby, New York 1987.
  • Florence Hervé : Namibia. Women get involved . Orlanda , Berlin 1993.
  • Mathias Oldhaver: The German-speaking population group in Namibia: their importance as a factor in German-Namibian relations . J. Kovac, Hamburg 1997.
  • Gisela Geisler: Women and the Remaking of Politics in Southern Africa: Negotiating Autonomy, Incorporation And Representation . Nordic Africa Institute , Uppsala 2004.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Germany and Namibia today . German-Namibian Society eV. 2010. Archived from the original on April 3, 2012. Retrieved March 6, 2013.
  2. ^ Klaus Dierks : Biographies of Namibian Personalities . Namibia Library by Dr.-Ing. Klaus Dierks. 2003. Retrieved March 6, 2013.
  3. ↑ Catherine Sasman: Who is Nora Schimming-Chase? ( English ) New Era . July 30, 2007. Archived from the original on April 13, 2013. Retrieved March 6, 2013.
  4. ↑ Brief history of the message . Namibian Embassy in Berlin . 2010. Retrieved March 6, 2013.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Schimming-Chase, Nora
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Chase, Nora
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Namibian politician and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH December 1, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Windhoek
DATE OF DEATH March 13, 2018
Place of death Windhoek