• BETHULIE, my lewe in die kamp

BETHULIE, my lewe in die kamp

: van der Walt (R.)

R 360.00
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192pp., b/w & colour illus., paperback, Tafelberg, Cape Town, 2026

ISBN: 9780624096009

 

Twenty-three-year-old Rensche van der Walt’s diary detailing her harrowing experiences of malnutrition, disease and overcrowding in the Bethulie concentration camp during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) is reprinted here for the first time in 60 years, well illustrated and with contributions by Dr. Johan van Zÿl and Dr Vicky Heunis of the War Museum in Bloemfontein and South African War expert Professor Fransjohan Pretorius.

Rensche van der Walt was born in Reddersburg in 1878. In April 1901 she was captured on the family farm together with her mother and three sisters and  taken to the Bethulie concentration camp. They all survived, and after peace was declared returned to Reddersburg. The dairy, which Rensche had in her possession when she died, was translated into Afrikaans and published in the 1960s by her niece, Kezia Hamman.