Doctoral Degrees (History)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (History) by Subject "Andalusia (Prisoner of war camp)"

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    Germans in South Africa during and in the aftermath of World War Two : the dynamics and contradictions of internment, 1939–1948
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2024-03) Gess, David Wolfgang; Gess, D. W. (David W.); Grundlingh, Albert M.; Grundlingh, A. M., 1948-; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of History.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: On 1 September 1939, Hitler invaded Poland, and two days later, France and Britain declared war on Germany. Three days later, South Africa, by a slim parliamentary vote, rejected a motion of neutrality and also chose to declare war. Public sentiment was split between supporters of the war policy of General Smuts and the Afrikaner nationalists who bitterly opposed the war and sympathised with Germany. In neighbouring South West Africa, a former German colony administered by South Africa as a mandate, a significant German population had sought to preserve German influence and Deutschtum and wanted the territory to be returned to Germany. Immediately upon the declaration of war, the South African Government commenced with the internment of German nationals in South Africa and South West Africa and contributed to the general war effort by providing accommodation for German internees removed from British territories in Africa and captured German merchant seamen. The number of internments was initially relatively small and focused primarily on Nazi Party leaders and membership, but later, in the context of fear of Fifth Column activities, general internments in greater numbers followed in 1940. During the course of the war, up to one third of the German male population of South West Africa was removed to South Africa and interned at Andalusia. There is an almost complete absence of any scholarly investigation of South Africa’s internment policy relating to Germans, its implementation, and the experiences of German men held in the internment camps. The purpose of this study was to undertake a detailed analysis of the formation and implementation of the internment policy, including how it affected German women, anti-Nazis and Jewish refugees. It examines how internees established leadership structures and organised themselves politically, adopted strategies for passing the time, and finally explores the issue of war time repatriation of German civilians through negotiated schemes for exchanges. This study reviewed previously unexamined archival sources and private papers. It concludes, firstly, that South Africa adopted and applied provisions analogous to the Geneva Convention of 1929 to all civilian internees, including merchant seamen. Internment was limited to German men. Secondly, internee communities in the main camps of Baviaanspoort and Andalusia developed their own identities, experiencing different internal struggles for leadership and political control. Thirdly, once internees realised that an early release was unlikely, most engaged in various activities to pass the time, aware of the negative psychological effects of long-term confinement known as Stacheldraadkrankheit, or barbed-wire sickness. Finally, making German civilians available for exchange through repatriation to wartime Germany, particularly with the Drottningholm repatriation of June 1944, met the dual purposes of obtaining the release of Commonwealth citizens held by Germany and advancing a policy of repatriating or deporting as many Germans as was possible. In conclusion, South Africa’s internment policy can be considered as being a successful measure in protecting the Home Front, but at the same time, there is little doubt that some internments, solely on account of German nationality, were unnecessary and unjustified.