On 1 July 1915, the German Army was defeated at Otavi by South African troops and on 9 July they surrendered to General Louis Botha’s troops and signed the Khorab Peace Treaty. The Khorab Memorial was established in 1920 as testimony to this event and is a National Monument as it marked the end of German rule in Namibia.
A plaque on the Memorial reads, ‘It was here that the German troops signed their capitulation ot the troops of the Union of South Africa on 9 July 1915. The co-signatories of the treaty were General Louis Botha, Governor Seitz, and the Oberstleutenant Franke. This marked the end of German rule in South West Africa.’
As the roads are poorly labelled in Otavi, finding the monument can prove tricky.
Follow these directions:
Enter Otavi on the B1 Road and drive straight until you reach a four-way stop. Diagonally to your right is a SPAR. Turn right and turn drive straight until you reach a traffic circle. Turn left at the circle into a street with a First National Bank and a PEP store. Continue staight until you reach a T-junction. There is a sign ‘Khorab Monument‘. Drive over what appears to be wasteland for approximately 70m, before reaching a fence with a sign saying “strictly private“, where the road forks. Take the left fork and continue for approximately 1.7km until you arrive at the Khorab Monument, which is located behind a fence and stands apprximately 1.5m high.
