Hermann Heinrich Vedder (* 3 July 1876 in Westerenger, Westfalen, Germany; † 26 April 1972 in Okahandja, South-West Africa) was a German missionary, linguist, ethnologist and historian. Originally a silk weaver, he received missionary training in Barmen between 1894 and 1903, whereafter he was sent to German South-West Africa. There he founded the Rhenish Missionary Society in 1905 and worked as a missionary until his death, first for the black workers and prisoners-of-war in Swakopmund[1] and from 1922 onwards in Okahandja.[2] A suburb of Okahandja is named Veddersdal (Afrikaans: Vedder's valley) in his honour.
Vedder spoke fluently Oshindonga, Khoekhoe, and Otjiherero. He spent a lot of his time recording oral history and folklore and wrote school textbooks in Otjiherero and Khoekhoegowab.[1]
His best known works are the ethnographic treatise Die Bergdama on history and culture of the Damara, his work on the history of South-West Africa, South West Africa in Early Times, and his contribution to The native tribes of South West Africa.