Ways of Remembering

1. Ways of Remembering South African War Memorials

2. Who or what do we remember through public sites? • Start by asking the students to make a list of who or what is memorialised in their neighbourhood and what form this memorialisation takes: street names, statues, school names, public parks, murals, graffiti, libraries... (take them for a walk if that works in your area) • Who were these people or events and why have they been remembered? These memorials were chosen – by whom and why? • Who has not been memorialised? Are there any obvious omissions of people or events? Why might this have been the case?

3. Key Questions • How has the memory of the South African War become part of the nation’s public landscape? ie what statues, parks, street names memorials exist. • What memory of the war is expressed and legitimized through public sites? ie what parts of the war have been remembered? • What aspects of the War have South Africans chosen to forget? Who is not memorialised? Why do you think that this is the case?

4. South African War Monuments • “Memorials called “Burgher” monuments were erected in virtually every district of the former Boer republics, as well as in towns in the Cape and Natal, which were British colonies at the time of the Anglo-Boer War, but from which many Afrikaners joined the Boer forces. These monuments usually contain the names of men from the specific district or town who were killed in the war only, plus a verse from the Bible.” (J. Grobbeler (2006) p.209)

5. South African War Monuments “In South Africa, the majority of Burgher monuments and concentration camp memorials were erected within the first half century after the war ended. The inscriptions on many of these are in Dutch – an indication that they were erected before 1925, when Afrikaans replaced Dutch as an official language of South Africa. It is important to note that the vast majority of early monuments were put up in the grounds of churches, and not on public squares.”(J. Grobbeler (2006) p.212)

6. Memorials to the Boer Generals Memorial to General Koos de la Rey at Lichtenberg Memorial to General Christiaan de Wet in Bloemfontein.

7. Memorials to Boer soldiers Memorial at Graff Reinett “In memory of the fallen in the struggle for Freedom and Justice" Anglo Boer War 1899 - 1902.The design of the marble monument made in Italy, was reputedly based on photographs of Boer soldiers. It was unveiled on 2 December 1908 by General Grobler. (http://www.graaffreinet.co.za/index.php?page_name=more&listing_id=248&attractions=Anglo-Boer+War+Memorial)

8. In memory of Boer Prisoners of War who were sent into exile overseas. A Boer man and boy shown here clinging to the railing of a ship as they are sent into exile. The oldest reported POW transported was in his 80s and the youngest was only 6 years old. Sculpture at the Anglo Boer War museum/Women's Monument complex in Bloemfontein.

9. Vrouemonument (Women’s monument) in Bloemfontein. • To the 5,000 women and 22,000 children who died in British concentration camps. • Unveiled in 1913. “To our women heroes and adorable children who gave their lives for our cause.”

10. Did you Know? • Only three people are buried at the Vrouemonument in Bloemfontein. • President Steyn of the Orange Free state • General ChristiaanRudulf de Wet And - Emily Hobhouse (The British woman who exposed the horrific conditions that Boers were being kept under in the British concentration camps)

11. Poem to the lost Boer Republics Francis William Reitz, the State Secretary of the South African Republic, wrote a poem entitled Vaarwelaandie Vierkleur(Farewell to the Quadricolour). “No longer may our Standard wave And flaunt its colours to the sky, ’Tis buried with our heroes brave Who on the field of Glory lie.”

12. Memorial to British soldiers who died in SA War Memorial to British soldiers in the Richie Cemetery in the northern Cape http://www.militaryimages.net/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/25985 http://www.bwm.org.au/images/memorials/Spion_Kop_Memorial.jpg

13. South African Memorials to soldiers who died fighting for the British.

14. The Grahamstown Memorial • The inscription on the memorial to soldiers who died fighting for the British in the SA War: “THEY CAME OF THAT SAME STUBBORN STOCK THAT STOOD AT RUNNYMEDE FOR FREEDOM WITHOUR FEAR WHEREFORE THEY GAVE THE TREASURE OF THEIR BLOOD TO STABLISH FREEDOM HERE” (The sculpture is by Stanley Nicholson Babb and Rudyard Kipling wrote the inscription)

15. Memorials to Black people who died in South African War ???

16. Memorials to Black people who died in concentration camps. “In March 2006, then Minister of Arts and Culture, Pallo Jordan, suggested that the National Women’s Memorial in Bloemfontein should be adjusted to make room for honouring black women and children who suffered as a result of the Anglo-Boer War. For the vast majority of Afrikaner cultural leaders, this was unconditionally unacceptable, since to them the Women’s Memorial is nothing less than an Afrikaner shrine.” J. Grobbeller (2006) p.224

17. Class Activity Study the memorials of different groups of people: the British, the Boers and the Blacks; men and women; Generals and soldiers. • Describe the different memorials • What impression do the memorials or the text on them give about the people who died? • Can you identify any difference sin eth way in which different groups are memorialised? Why do you think this is?

18. Class Activity Rename a Street in your neighbourhood Have the learners write a proposal to rename a street in their neighbourhood in honour of a person or event in the South African War • Identify a suitable street and justify this choice. • Who or what would the street be renamed to? Why? • Fully explain the significance of this person or event in the neighbourhood, province, country. • Write a dedication speech for when the street is officially renamed.

19. And Finally… In Britain, One of the stands at Liverpool FC’s stadium is called ‘the Kop’ after the British soldiers from the area who died at the Battle of Spion kop in the SA War

20. Sources • The Anglo-Boer war Museum at Bloemfontein; http://www.anglo-boer.co.za/ • J. Grobbeler,Memories of a Lost Cause. Comparing remembrance of the Civil War by Southerners to the Anglo-Boer War by Afrikaners, Historia52, 2, Nov 2006, pp202. http://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/handle/2263/2632/Grobler_Memories%282006%29.pdf?sequence=1 • If you search the internet there are many images of the different memorials around South Africa, Britain and in the former British Empire (such as new Zealand, Australia and Canada) which you can study.