The iconography of Afrikaner nationalism and Ossewa-Brandwag's 'ideal of freedom' in the South African internment camps of the Second World War

The emergency measures of the Union government under Jan Smuts had a strong impact on the Ossewa-Brandwag (OB) during the Second World War. The OB was especially targeted by the government because of its overt pro-German and anti-British stance and its active resistance against the war effort. The ideology of the movement was built upon a strong basis of Afrikaner nationalism in conjunction with National Socialism which was supposed to legitimise the movement as an alternative to party politics. OB members expressed Afrikaner nationalist sentiments which meant resistance against Britain with the goal of attaining an independent republic - the so-called "ideal of freedom". Consequently, the OB's active resistance led to high numbers of internment. This article focuses on the South African internment camps of the Second World War. The nationalist iconography reflected in the artefacts created by OB members during their internment are analysed within the broader context of Afrikaner nationalism and the ideology of the OB. The OB had a very specific brand of Afrikaner nationalism and the ideal of freedom, central to its ideology, was combined with existing Afrikaner nationalist goals and subsequently nationalist iconography manifested itself in internees' creative expressions of their own personal nationalist sentiments. The artefacts also reflect the integration of Afrikaner nationalist iconography and the OB's ideal of freedom with personal contexts of imprisonment illustrating how political myths can be reshaped to provide meaning for the present realities of contemporaries.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: la Grange,Anna, Blignaut,Charl
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Historical Association of South Africa 2021
Online Access:http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0018-229X2021000100005
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
id oai:scielo:S0018-229X2021000100005
record_format ojs
spelling oai:scielo:S0018-229X20210001000052021-11-02The iconography of Afrikaner nationalism and Ossewa-Brandwag's 'ideal of freedom' in the South African internment camps of the Second World Warla Grange,AnnaBlignaut,Charl Ossewa-Brandwag Oxwagon Sentinel Second World War Afrikaner nationalism state of emergency internment internment camps Koffiefontein resistance The emergency measures of the Union government under Jan Smuts had a strong impact on the Ossewa-Brandwag (OB) during the Second World War. The OB was especially targeted by the government because of its overt pro-German and anti-British stance and its active resistance against the war effort. The ideology of the movement was built upon a strong basis of Afrikaner nationalism in conjunction with National Socialism which was supposed to legitimise the movement as an alternative to party politics. OB members expressed Afrikaner nationalist sentiments which meant resistance against Britain with the goal of attaining an independent republic - the so-called "ideal of freedom". Consequently, the OB's active resistance led to high numbers of internment. This article focuses on the South African internment camps of the Second World War. The nationalist iconography reflected in the artefacts created by OB members during their internment are analysed within the broader context of Afrikaner nationalism and the ideology of the OB. The OB had a very specific brand of Afrikaner nationalism and the ideal of freedom, central to its ideology, was combined with existing Afrikaner nationalist goals and subsequently nationalist iconography manifested itself in internees' creative expressions of their own personal nationalist sentiments. The artefacts also reflect the integration of Afrikaner nationalist iconography and the OB's ideal of freedom with personal contexts of imprisonment illustrating how political myths can be reshaped to provide meaning for the present realities of contemporaries.Historical Association of South AfricaHistoria v.66 n.1 20212021-05-01journal articletext/htmlhttp://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0018-229X2021000100005en
institution SCIELO
collection OJS
country Sudáfrica
countrycode ZA
component Revista
access En linea
databasecode rev-scielo-za
tag revista
region África del Sur
libraryname SciELO
language English
format Digital
author la Grange,Anna
Blignaut,Charl
spellingShingle la Grange,Anna
Blignaut,Charl
The iconography of Afrikaner nationalism and Ossewa-Brandwag's 'ideal of freedom' in the South African internment camps of the Second World War
author_facet la Grange,Anna
Blignaut,Charl
author_sort la Grange,Anna
title The iconography of Afrikaner nationalism and Ossewa-Brandwag's 'ideal of freedom' in the South African internment camps of the Second World War
title_short The iconography of Afrikaner nationalism and Ossewa-Brandwag's 'ideal of freedom' in the South African internment camps of the Second World War
title_full The iconography of Afrikaner nationalism and Ossewa-Brandwag's 'ideal of freedom' in the South African internment camps of the Second World War
title_fullStr The iconography of Afrikaner nationalism and Ossewa-Brandwag's 'ideal of freedom' in the South African internment camps of the Second World War
title_full_unstemmed The iconography of Afrikaner nationalism and Ossewa-Brandwag's 'ideal of freedom' in the South African internment camps of the Second World War
title_sort iconography of afrikaner nationalism and ossewa-brandwag's 'ideal of freedom' in the south african internment camps of the second world war
description The emergency measures of the Union government under Jan Smuts had a strong impact on the Ossewa-Brandwag (OB) during the Second World War. The OB was especially targeted by the government because of its overt pro-German and anti-British stance and its active resistance against the war effort. The ideology of the movement was built upon a strong basis of Afrikaner nationalism in conjunction with National Socialism which was supposed to legitimise the movement as an alternative to party politics. OB members expressed Afrikaner nationalist sentiments which meant resistance against Britain with the goal of attaining an independent republic - the so-called "ideal of freedom". Consequently, the OB's active resistance led to high numbers of internment. This article focuses on the South African internment camps of the Second World War. The nationalist iconography reflected in the artefacts created by OB members during their internment are analysed within the broader context of Afrikaner nationalism and the ideology of the OB. The OB had a very specific brand of Afrikaner nationalism and the ideal of freedom, central to its ideology, was combined with existing Afrikaner nationalist goals and subsequently nationalist iconography manifested itself in internees' creative expressions of their own personal nationalist sentiments. The artefacts also reflect the integration of Afrikaner nationalist iconography and the OB's ideal of freedom with personal contexts of imprisonment illustrating how political myths can be reshaped to provide meaning for the present realities of contemporaries.
publisher Historical Association of South Africa
publishDate 2021
url http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0018-229X2021000100005
work_keys_str_mv AT lagrangeanna theiconographyofafrikanernationalismandossewabrandwagsidealoffreedominthesouthafricaninternmentcampsofthesecondworldwar
AT blignautcharl theiconographyofafrikanernationalismandossewabrandwagsidealoffreedominthesouthafricaninternmentcampsofthesecondworldwar
AT lagrangeanna iconographyofafrikanernationalismandossewabrandwagsidealoffreedominthesouthafricaninternmentcampsofthesecondworldwar
AT blignautcharl iconographyofafrikanernationalismandossewabrandwagsidealoffreedominthesouthafricaninternmentcampsofthesecondworldwar
_version_ 1756004578365538304