Ossewabrandwag

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The Ossewabrandwag (OB; German for example: "Ochsenwagen-Wache") was a nationalist organization of the Afrikaans-speaking European population of the South African Union . It existed from 1939 to 1952.

history

Coat of arms of the Ossewabrandwag

In the course of the centenary celebrations for the Great Treck , the climax of which was a symbolic ox-wagon train, South African Boers gathered in 1938 , who had been hostile to the British population group since the defeat in the Second Boer War and who viewed their economic prospects negatively. The preparations for the establishment of the "cultural organization" OB were driven forward in 1938 primarily by CR Kotzé, a pastor of the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (NGK) and chairman of the Calvinistiese Bond. On February 4, 1939, they founded the Ossewabrandwag organization in the main NGK church in Bloemfontein , the name of which refers to the time of the Great Trek. The first chairman was Colonel JCC Laas. He was called Commandant-Generaal. When the war broke out, the OB had around 45,000 members in the Orange Free State alone . Laas had a chaotic leadership style and was replaced in January 1941 by the lawyer Johannes Hans van Rensburg, who was previously the administrator of the Orange Free State.

Part of the OB was the paramilitary wing Stormjaers ("Sturmjäger"), which was modeled on the German, National Socialist SA and was led by the same Commandant-Generaal as the OB. Its members swore an oath that forbade them to give up or fall under threat of death. The OB was initially supported by Daniel F. Malan's opposition Gesuiwerde Nasionale Party or Herenigde Nasionale Party (HNP) and was also close to the secret African Broederbond , who, however, had also founded a similar organization, Trekmaats, in Bloemfontein in 1939 . The Cape Town branch of the OB was built up by Balthazar Johannes Vorster , Theophilus E. Dönges and Pieter Willem Botha . Vorster was also General of the Stormjaers.

Ossewabrandwag had a positive attitude towards the National Socialist government in Germany and vehemently opposed the participation of the South African Union in the Second World War on the side of the Allies . Members refused to participate in the war and harassed uniformed soldiers. On February 1, 1941, there was an outbreak of violence in Johannesburg , in which 140 soldiers were injured by OB members. During the war, the Stormjaers carried out explosive attacks on supply lines and railway lines. In 1941 the Ossewabrandwag had around 350,000 members. A third of all Boers belonged to the OB. In 1942 Malan ordered that HNP functionaries were no longer allowed to belong to the OB, and in 1944 double membership was banned for all HNP members. As early as December 1942, the OB was banned by President Jan Smuts ; Thousands of members, including the future Prime Minister Vorster, were imprisoned in internment camps until the end of the war , for example in Koffiefontein in the Orange Free State. In 1945 she was released. The OB was re-admitted after the HNP's election victory in 1948 , but was largely absorbed by the HNP and disbanded in 1952.

aftermath

Several high-ranking members of the Ossewabrandwag held leading positions during the apartheid period.

  • Balthazar Johannes Vorster was Prime Minister from 1966 to 1978 and then President until 1979.
  • Theophilus E. Dönges was a long-time minister and Prime Minister-designate in 1968, but died before his inauguration.
  • Pieter Willem Botha was Prime Minister until 1984 and then President of South Africa until 1989.
  • Hendrik van den Bergh was Vorster's security advisor and founding director of the South African Bureau of State Security (BOSS).

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Christoph Marx : In the sign of the ox wagon - the radical Afrikaaner nationalism in South Africa and the history of the Ossewabrandwag. Studies on African History Volume 22. LIT, Münster 1998, ISBN 3-8258-3907-9 , p. 273.Digitized (excerpt)
  2. ↑ Christoph Marx : In the sign of the ox wagon - the radical Afrikaaner nationalism in South Africa and the history of the Ossewabrandwag. Studies on African History Volume 22. LIT, Münster 1998, ISBN 3-8258-3907-9 , p. 277.Digitized (excerpt)
  3. ^ Portrait of Johannes van Rensburg at nelsonmandela.org (English), accessed on April 10, 2013
  4. ↑ Christoph Marx : In the sign of the ox wagon - the radical Afrikaaner nationalism in South Africa and the history of the Ossewabrandwag. Studies on African History Volume 22. LIT, Münster 1998, ISBN 3-8258-3907-9 , p. 276.Digitized (excerpt)
  5. ↑ Ossewabrandwag at africanhistory.about.com (English), accessed on April 8, 2013
  6. ↑ a b portrait at africanhistory.about.com (English), accessed on April 8, 2013
  7. ↑ Christoph Marx : In the sign of the ox wagon - the radical Afrikaaner nationalism in South Africa and the history of the Ossewabrandwag. Studies on African History Volume 22. LIT, Münster 1998, ISBN 3-8258-3907-9 , back of the book. Digital copy (extract)
  8. ↑ Christoph Marx : In the sign of the ox wagon - the radical Afrikaaner nationalism in South Africa and the history of the Ossewabrandwag. Studies on African History Volume 22. LIT, Münster 1998, ISBN 3-8258-3907-9 , p. 3. Digital copy (excerpt)
  9. ↑ Founding of BOSS at sahistory.org.za , accessed on April 9, 2013