On September 21, 1457, Albert VI, Archduke of Austria founded the Uni-Freiburg, Germany, as the second university in Austrian-Habsburg. In her 561 years of existence, she is proud of many thinkers little less than gods: Martin Heidegger, Hannah Arendt, Karl Rahner, Rudolf Carnap, David Daube, Johann Eck, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Friedrich Hayek, Edmund Husserl, Friedrich Meinecke, Max Weber, Paul Uhlenhuth, Ernst Zermelo, 19 Nobel Laureates and 15 academics who have won the highest German research prize, the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize.
By Rochas’ style, one would have expected quadrangles of statues in honour of these thinkers, competing for attention like gods in Caesarea Philippi. Curiously Uni-Freiburg built her thinkers’ corner to recall a bitter chapter in German history. True to her motto: Die Wahrheit wird euch frei machen (The Truth will set you free) the University’s relaxation arena is designed and built to apologize for the horror of Holocaust.
In Freiburg once stood the Synagogue of the Israelite Religion Community which was built in 1869/1870. That synagogue was burnt to ashes on the night of 9/10 November 1938 by the Freiburg SS. The Stormtroopers (SS) prevented fire fighters from saving the synagogue. The arson marked the turning point where disenfrachisement and discrimination directed at Jewish fellow citizens turned into persecution and Holocaust.
In this ancient institution, Uni-Freiburg stands today a reproduction of floor plan of this old Synagogue. Designed with reflection water surface, it is built to apologize for the mistake of Holocaust and to remind Germans of those fellow citizens who were victims of terror and violence of the NS regime and who were persecuted, deported and murdered during the national socialist period (1933-1945).
Each day, school children in their turns are led by their teachers to this floor to remind them of the sins of their grand fathers. They stand in dead silence before reflection water surface. Near the water reflection are inscriptions urging all that the fate of the victims obliges us to oppose anti-semitism and racism, to stand up for peace and freedom and to staunchly defend these values. As children leave, one could feel the regret and convictions in their hearts. The power of history!
Each time I leave library or my cubicle to steal a view of this historically-tied serene environment, I feel this misery immeasurable which is perhaps provoked by Nigeria’s unceasing effort to repress historical realities.
It is on record that between 1966 and 1969, millions of the Igbo were burnt and buried alive, laid on rail tracks and crushed with speed-moving British trains. Wombs of pregnant mothers and wives were ripped open after being systematically raped; Biafran kids were beaten to death with cudgels; Russian and British tanks rained bombs on the Igbo and old men and women together with children twitched to ashes. Our brave men who confronted western tanks with locally made war technologies have their bodies riddled with bullets supplied to Nigeria by nations who gave us the Bible and taught us the way of the Cross.
From Aba to Asaba, Abakaliki to Awka, Nsukka to Nnewi, Onitsha to Obudu, Makurdi to Maiduguri, Kaduna to Kano, Zaria to Zamfara, Port Harcourt to Plateau, corpses littered the streets, stream turned red while Queen, her western and newly found love- Arab conspirators- popped champagne in England. If not for the Irish Catholic missionaries, the Caritas, the Red Cross, and the World Council of Churches, the Igbo would have buried the religion of the Nazarene, Jesus.
Fast forward to 2018! This is 51 years after that gory massacre. The situations have worsened neither has the massacred ended. In place of monuments are disenfranchisement, marginalization, persecution, and killings which are officially celebrated with government insignia. Ridiculed as the children of the crushed rebels, the Igbo are still threatened and meted with harsher fate each time they demand for their right.
What is called a war museum in Umuahia looks like an abandoned coal pit. There is no monument, nor any mention of that war in our constitution or school curriculum. In trying to suppress Biafra ingenuity, Nigeria could not innovate the wonders of Biafra war technology like Biafra Red Devil, Biafra Rockets, Biafra Cassava beer, Biafra Coconut Engine Oil, Ogbunigwes nor sustain the Biafra Research and Production Unit which could have taken Nigeria to the space.
Among the war prosecutors and their kin is a feeling of triumphalism. An average Almajuri on the street of Kano feels more important, and bet me he is, in Nigerian project than the most successful Igbo man. With a feeling of inferiority, the Igbo leaders leap northwards in search of political relevance. Today, Gov. Umahi of Ebonyi closes down businesses and churches to either welcome a pedophile from north or to celebrate his political ego at Abakaliki; yet he threatens to close indefinitely, businesses that would obey the sit-at-home call to commemorate Biafra’s Heroes Day.
As Nigeria continues to draw lines on sand, we should keep in mind that they never look forward to posterity, those who never look backwards to their mistakes. In the years to come, we will remain and will always be addressed as a country under the moral burden and witch-hunt of history.
© Felix Uche Akam: 02.06.2018@Dragnet
