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Narrative structure and point of view
T1 consists exclusively of text written by the textbook authors and images, with no written
sources or quotations. T3 contains 65 percent authorial text alongside written sources which
document the viewpoints of perpetrators, those involved in the resistance, and bystanders,
though not those of victims. T3 provides a historical narrative of stages of the Holocaust
focusing on ideology and persecution, while T1 focuses on ideology and persecution without
historical contextualization. Narrative modes are neutral and contain few expressions of
moral judgement such as ‘brutal’ and ‘horror’ in T1 and T3.
Didactic approach
Exercises contained in T1 request pupils to ‘list Hitler’s beliefs’ and to write generally about
‘the impact of Nazism on the German people’ (p. 160) on the basis of documents. T3 covers a
broad range of exercises, including image analysis (of propaganda posters and symbols), text
analysis (with respect to eugenics and Mein Kampf), and general descriptive writing about
policies, the large numbers of victims and the small numbers of those who resisted. T1 links
the past effectively to the present day by including an exercise asking pupils to ‘Explain why
the Cassinga Massacre should never have happened and should never be forgotten’ (p. 24).
National idiosyncrasies
No direct historical links between the Holocaust and the genocide against the Herero people
are stated in these textbooks. Nonetheless, implicit links between the Holocaust and Namibian
or African history more generally are connoted. T3 emphasizes that ‘about 500 teenagers of
mixed African and German parentage were also sterilized by secret order’ (p. 190) while T1
draws attention to Jews and black people as the main targets of Nazism and Fascism. T1 also
emphasizes the influence of fascist and racist ideas on South Africa’s apartheid government
and on its control over Namibia during the South African occupation (p. 159). Vocabulary used
to describe early twentieth-century Namibian history in the relevant section echoes closely
the vocabulary used in the section about the Holocaust. Thus in T1 the event is described as
the ‘destruction of the Herero people’ (p. 37) which followed from the ‘Vernichtungsbefehl or
extermination order’ given by von Trotha to ‘annihilate’ Herero ‘“sub-humans”’ (p. 45). Forms
of persecution are also listed as the confiscation of property, segregation, discrimination,
exploitation, forced labour and deportation (pp. 38-39) and the use of German ‘concentration
camps’, where ‘half’ of the prisoners ‘died due to bad conditions and cruel treatment’ (p. 43).
Bibliography
T1: Ranby, P. 2012. Go for History. Grade 10. Windhoek, Macmillan Education Namibia Publishers. (history, the last in
a series of three textbooks for the junior secondary level called ‘Go for History’, age 15-16 years, in English)
T2: Ranby, P. 2012. Go for History. Grade 9. Windhoek, Macmillan Education Namibia Publishers. (history, the last in a
series of three textbooks for the junior secondary level called ‘Go for History’, age 14-15 years, in English)
T3: Weldon, G., Riffel, I., Willemse, M. and du Plessis, A. 2012 (first published 2011). Macmillan History for Southern
Africa. Learner’s Book. Manzini, Macmillan Boleswa Publishers. (history, age 16-18 years, in English)
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