TOPIC:

Hi everyone.

I am a new researcher of the Boer War. Can anyone tell me what happened to the people who were in the concentration camps after the peace treaty was signed? Were they allowed to go back home?

Also- did people ever escape fomr the concentraiton camps?

Iguanarick wrote: Hi everyone.

I am a new researcher of the Boer War. Can anyone tell me what happened to the people who were in the concentration camps after the peace treaty was signed? Were they allowed to go back home?

Also- did people ever escape from the concentration camps?

Well, the short answer is that yes, after the Peace Treaty of Vereeniging was signed on 31 May 1902, everybody were allowed to leave the camps. But keep in mind: through the scorched earth policy of Kitchener during the last two years of the War (and remember - both African and Boer people were at that time still mostly part of an agrarian economy) people often did not have anything to return to once they left the camps. Often former inmates would request the British occupying authorities to temporarily remain behind in the camps till they could get back on their feet again.

Occasionally it happened that the arrangement in the end became a permanent one, and the former camps formed the nucleus of a new community. One example is the Johannesburg Concentration Camp for Africans that after the War developed into the South Western Township (the famous SOWETO). Another example is the Makweteng Township in Klerksdorp. At the end of the War, former inmates of the Klerksdorp African Concentration Camp requested permission to stay in the camp because it at least had the semblance of a functioning infrastructure. Gradually from this small group of former inmates arose a vibrant new community that became known as the Makweteng Township.

Although the Apartheid laws of later years nominally frowned upon people from different so-called racial backgrounds (an infamous Apartheid euphemism), people from different cultural backgrounds did find a home here. However, in terms of the Group Areas Act the Klerksdorp Municipality forcibly removed the residents of Makweteng and flattened the township in the early 1950’s to make way for a new White suburb. Thus one can say that the African Concentration Camp of Klerksdorp was only finally evacuated 50 years after the end of the War!

I'm not sure about escapes. These wern't WW2 Nazi stlye concentration camps. They were closer to internment camps, although they were to move the women and children away from the farms. I don't think anyone would have wanted to escape as there was nothing to escape to. It was all bush and destroyed farms outside. I doubt they would have been wired in and guarded like a POW camp either.

What I have never read of is a Boer Commando trying to break someone out of a camp, or try to bring them some conform etc. Has anyone ever heard of that?

Thank you all, this is indeed helpful. I would love to know about the commando trying to break in/ out. The account on how the townships were formed is very interesting and helpful indeed!

rdarby wrote: I'm not sure about escapes. These wern't WW2 Nazi stlye concentration camps. They were closer to internment camps, although they were to move the women and children away from the farms. I don't think anyone would have wanted to escape as there was nothing to escape to. It was all bush and destroyed farms outside. I doubt they would have been wired in and guarded like a POW camp either.

In my capacity as professional historian I beg to differ. One but has to read the accounts of Emily Hobhouse and several British journalists, not to speak of other European (e.g. Dutch, German & French) journalists of the time, to realise that these were much more than mere “internment camps.” As I have stated elsewhere on this forum, I don’t for a moment believe that it was really a concerted effort by the British government to systematically commit genocide (i.e. Nazi style), but there was certainly a general contempt for the Boer. To people like Lord Milner and Chamberlain, the Boer was dirty, uncouth, a religious fanatic and a racist (the last accusation at least being true, but the British treatment of African South Africans was often not better than that of the Boers) and this led to the firm belief that the Boer women and children were not used to any better living conditions than those provided in the camps. Therefore continued clamouring from the press and other sources re the horrible conditions in the camps were largely ignored as being grossly exaggerated. If there are still any doubts re the conditions in the camps, refer to the case of Lizzy Van Zyl from the Bloemfontein Concentration Camp (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lizzie_van_Zyl ).

Also, a photograph that I am attaching from our Museum Collection will shed some light on the totally inadequate living arrangements in the Klerksdorp camp. Keep in mind that this desolate, treeless piece of real estate is swept by icy winds during winter (ask me, I know about this place’s winters, working in Klerksdorp) and is prone to flooding during summer. I think you might agree that under these conditions long-term tented accommodation for women, frail elderly people and infants boils down to a little more than “internment camps”. Couple that to the inadequate food (PM me and I’ll mail you a photo - from our Collection - of African women in the Klerksdorp African camp receiving a few dirty and torn bags of maize flour to feed themselves and their children. Finally also refer to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Boer_War#Co...ps_.281900_-_1902.29

You state that nobody would propably want to escape because they would not be able to survive on their own outside the camps. I beg to differ. Probably the most famous example is that of Aunt Issie Delarey, wife to Genl. Koos Delarey (the victor at Yzerspruit & Tweebosch) who for the duration of the War was constantly on the move with the Delarey children and household: on her own, while her husband was out in the theatre of war. She even joined him on campaign a few times. This was true in many cases where individual families and even larger groups of Boer women trekked through the veldt, evading British patrols and surviving on their own just fine.

I would be honoured to receive you at our Museum, should you ever visit KLerksdorp. Here I will show you some artifacts belonging to and tell you the story of a Klerksdorp women that evaded such British patrols for a long time and eventually reached family of hers in the southern Free State where she and her children remained safe for the rest of the War. This she did all by herself, without the help of any commando or any other man. So no, I do not believe that it was a general feeling among Boer inmates of the camps that they should not escape since they would be unable to survive outside the camps.

Although I have heard several stories of people escaping from these camps, I will be neglecting my professionalism as an historian if I were to quote these stories without documentary proof. But I'll try to get hold of some irrefutable proof to this regard and put it on the Forum.