The concentration camp issue is a contentious one, I was never taught any of the reasons behind them, only that "die donderse Ingelse het ons vroue en kinders vermoor." It has taken many years to even begin to comprehend the scope of the camps, and get an inkling of why and how they came about. Conveniently no mention was ever made to me about how many Africans died in the camps. That was forgotten by the bullies who blamed me for the camps all those years ago. It is only recently that these camps have been rediscovered and the magnitude of the casualties involved has become less hazy. I will concede that the camps were responsible for the needless deaths of many Boer women and children. I will concede that Lord Kitchener should share a large portion of the blame for those deaths, I will also concede that this issue is one which caused massive rifts between English and Afrikaans speaking members of this country. I will however not aportion blame completely, there are just too many issues involved which I am not qualified to ramble on about. What I will present here is a small representation of the 4 concentration camp cemetries I have personally seen. I think the images say more than I can ever say, but I do urge the reader to read up on the camps from both points of view of the antagonists and to spare a thought for those who died, unremembered and undocumented in the many other camps that are not so well known or documented. Each page opens in a new window |
The photographs on this website are ©DR Walker. 1995-2010 unless otherwise stated. Updated 28 June 2010