It’s a long time since I last sent a message. Welcome to all those who have joined the list recently.

Just to update you on the database first.

I have completed the merging of the deaths from Krugersdorp camp but I have not attempted to merge the camp movements since it seems more urgent to complete the entering of the new registers first. I am currently working on Standerton camp and have almost completed the first register.

You may be interested in two new books.

The first is on the point of being published by the War Museum of the Boer Republics in Bloemfontein. This is: Stowell Kessler, The Black Concentration Camps of the Boer War, 1899-1902.

Stowell Kessler was an American, a Presbyterian clergyman, who had been active in the civil rights movement in his youth. After becoming interested in South Africa, he wrote a masters thesis on ‘The suffering of the Afrikaners and their civil religion: The theological roots of apartheid’. When he came to South Africa, he settled in Petrus Steyn, marrying a local woman. He completed his doctoral thesis on the black camps at the University of Cape Town in 2002. This book is based on his thesis.

If you are interested, the details are as follows: The standard edition of Kessler's book costs R485. Postage is R55, so the TOTAL is R540. A de luxe, numbered edition is also available ar R1800 (postage free). Payment can be made into the following bank account (below), but please confirm payment with Rodney Constantine at (051) 4473447. E-mail: rodney@anglo-boer.co.za

Account Holder:         War Museum of the Boer Republics

Bank:                          ABSA

Branch:                       Brandwag

Branch code:              334 334

Account number:       0470 601 302

Account type:             Current

Reference:                 Kessler plus your initials and surname

The second volume is: I. Schrøder-Nielsen, Among the Boers in Peace and War, edited by Ione Rudner and Bill Nasson (Cape Town, African Publishers, 2012)

This is the account of a young Norwegian, living in the Transvaal, who eventually entered the war on the Boer side. While it has nothing to do with the concentration camps, it is particularly engaging and readable. I don’t have the price but it can be obtained from Africana Publishers, 5G Indian Road, Kenilworth, 7708. ISBN 978-0-620-52802-3

Elizabeth van Heyningen
18 June 2012