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Namibian Councillor Re-elected — Drops 'Hitler' from ID to End Global Spotlight

Adolf Uunona, 57, was re-elected as councillor for Ompundja and has legally removed the middle name "Hitler" from his identity documents to avoid international attention. He says his father chose the name without knowing its historical significance and he rejects any association with Nazi ideology. Locally, voters praise his grassroots work and accessibility, which they say outweigh concerns about his name. The report also recalls Namibia’s German colonial past and Germany’s 2021 acknowledgement of early 20th-century atrocities against the Herero and Nama peoples.

11:56 PM, 11/28/2025Politics
Namibian Councillor Re-elected — Drops 'Hitler' from ID to End Global Spotlight

Adolf Uunona, a 57-year-old councillor in northern Namibia, was re-elected this week for a fifth term representing the Ompundja constituency in the Oshana region. He says he has legally removed the controversial middle name "Hitler" from his identity documents to avoid unwanted international attention and false associations with Nazi ideology.

"My name is not Adolf Hitler, I am Adolf Uunona," Uunona said. "I have seen in the past people calling me Adolf Hitler and trying to associate me with someone I do not even know."

Uunona, a member of the ruling South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO), has repeatedly distanced himself from Nazism and says his father gave him the name without understanding its historical weight. He has explained that as a child the name felt ordinary and only later did he grasp the full significance of the association.

Locally, constituents say the name has not affected his popularity. Reports from the area describe him as approachable and focused on grassroots issues, and voters point to his community work and accessibility as the reasons for his continued electoral success.

Germanic names are not uncommon in Namibia. The country was colonised by Germany in 1884 and, in the early 20th century, forces acting in the colony carried out atrocities against the Herero and Nama peoples. In 2021 Germany formally acknowledged that crimes amounting to genocide were committed during that period.

The colonial military commander Lothar von Trotha ordered severe measures against the uprisings; survivors were driven into the desert and many were later confined to camps where tens of thousands died. After World War I the territory came under South African administration and Namibia gained independence in 1990 following a decades-long liberation struggle.

Today Namibia is a sparsely populated country on Africa’s southwest coast, roughly three times the size of the United Kingdom with about three million residents. Uunona’s decision to drop the middle name reflects his desire to avoid misunderstandings abroad and highlights the complex legacies of names and colonial history in the country.

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