‘Enemy aliens’ in wartime:civilian internment in South Africa during World War I

This article explores the previously neglected history of civilian internment in South Africa during World War I. German, Austro-Hungarian and Turkish nationals were classified as ‘enemy aliens’. They included mostly male immigrants, but also several hundred women and children deported from Sub-Saharan colonial contact zones. The main camp was Fort Napier in Pietermaritzburg, holding around 2,500. Based on sources in South African, German and British archives, this multi-perspectival enquiry highlights the salience of the South African case and integrates it into wider theoretical questions and arguments. The policy of civilian internment was rolled out comprehensively throughout the British Empire. Not least lessons learnt from the South African War (1900-1902), when Britain had been widely criticised for harsh conditions in its camps, led to relatively humane prisoner treatment. Another mitigating factor were the pro-German sympathies of the Afrikaner population. Nevertheless, suffering occurred through isolation and deportation. Remembering the First World War mainly as a ‘’soldiers’ war’ on the Western Front generates too narrow a picture. Widening the lens on civilians of both sexes in overseas territories supports notions of war totalisation

South Africa’s Secret Chemical Weapons Project, 1933-1945

Recent scholarship has drawn attention to the chemical and biological weapons ‘Project Coast’ in the final phase of the apartheid regime. The earlier history of the production of chemical weapons in South Africa has received relatively little attention and some aspects have never been discussed before. Pointing to the need for protecting the white minority against indigenous unrest, the South African government showed considerable interest in acquiring the skills and logistics for the production of poison gas in collaboration with Great Britain in the 1930s. It was only after the start of the Second World War, however, that the British were prepared to support a South African chemical weapons programme because it contributed to the Allied war effort. Two poison gas factories were maintained in South Africa until the production of chemical weapons was terminated towards the end of the war despite an occasionally articulated desire by the government to continue with the project. This article will explore the continuities and discontinuities of South Africa’s endeavours in producing poison gas within a wider local and international context of chemical weapons policies from the First to the Second World War.https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rinh20hj2023Historical and Heritage Studie

South Africa World War One:Education Learning Resource

This Learning Resource presents a global theme with a South African focus. It has developed from the Minorities and Internment in South Africa during the Great War 1914-1919 project (available as an education resource at stobscamp.org.uk). It is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and led by Aston University, Birmingham, UK. Partners include KwaZulu Natal Museum, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and academics from the Universies of Pretoria and Stellenbosch. The pack and accompanying Virtual Reality and Heritage trail app together with other information can be found online at southafricaww1.com. Through the activities young people will gain an insight into aspects of the First World War at both global (empire) and national (South Africa) levels which continue to have relevance to the modern world. Although often regarded as an imperial war, something unconnected with Africa, the First World War of 1914-1918 was to have a major impact on the young Union of South Africa culturally, economically, and politically. Themes touched on in this Learning Resource may prove distressing for some pupils as they deal with discrimination, conflict and death

Dedering Reviews 50(1) A and B

Book Revie

Resensies: Letters of Stone. From Nazi Germany to South Africa

Book Title: Letters of Stone. From Nazi Germany to South AfricaBook Author: Steven RobinsCape Town: Penguin, 2016. 314 pp. ISBN 978 1 77609 024 2