What You Need to Know
Adolf Hitler Onona, a Namibian politician, has won local elections in the Oshana region for the fifth time. Despite his controversial name, which he has sought to distance himself from, Onona emphasizes that he has no connection to the Nazi ideology. He recently changed his name on his ID to remove the association with the infamous dictator.
Africa. A strange reality has been experienced by a political activist in Namibia due to his name, as he announced this week that he has successfully changed the name that has burdened him for a long time.
According to Le Parisien, the political activist, who is in his sixties, is Adolf Hitler Onona, a member of a center-left party and an elected local official. He stated that his parents named him without knowing the true identity of the Nazi dictator.
Le Parisien reported that the Namibian Hitler has successfully won elections in his constituency, the Oshana Regional Council, for the fifth time, emphasizing that his provocative name did not officially prevent him from running.
Adolf Hitler Onona was elected on Wednesday, November 26. He was born in the 1960s and is a member of the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO). He previously stated to the German newspaper Bild in 2020 that he has “no connection” to Nazi ideology.
He continued that his parents gave him this name without understanding the reality of who the man was that destroyed Europe decades ago.
According to Le Parisien, the man explained to the French daily that this name seemed completely normal to him during his childhood, as it is common in Namibia, a former German colony, to name children with names inspired by German culture.
The Namibian Hitler stated, “I only realized when I grew up that this man wanted to subjugate the entire world; I have nothing to do with any of that.”
Le Parisien noted that in an effort to overcome the negative impacts of his name, he has been calling himself Adolf Onona for several years.
He announced in an interview conducted with The Namibian this week that he has finally succeeded in removing the name Hitler from his identity card.
It is worth noting that Namibia was previously a German colony and part of German South West Africa, and Germanic names like Adolf remain common in the country. After World War I, it came under South African control until its independence in 1990.
Namibia, formerly known as German South West Africa, was a German colony until World War I. After the war, it came under South African administration until gaining independence in 1990. The legacy of German colonialism is evident in the country, where names of German origin remain common, reflecting a complex historical relationship with its colonial past.
The name Adolf Hitler is particularly controversial due to its association with the Nazi regime. In Namibia, many individuals bear Germanic names, often without the historical context that accompanies them. This highlights the ongoing impact of colonial history on personal identities in the region.
