Remembering conflict: Trauma and memory in the concentration camps of the Anglo-Boer / South African War

ABSTRAC / SAMEVATTTING

Memory, especially when associated with trauma, is notoriously unreliable. At the same time, during the course of the twentieth century, it has been recognised increasingly that memory is central to processes of healing and reconciliation, not only for individuals, but also for societies. The most striking example in South Africa is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which, in turn, drew on the experiences of reconciliation and memorialisation in Chile and Argentina. This understanding of the relationship between memory and trauma was not available in the early twentieth century but South Africa is unusual in leaving a substantial body of women’s testimonies which go some way towards casting light on our later understanding of the camp experience. The value of these testimonies is not uncontested for historians also recognise that memory may be manipulated for political purposes. This paper attempts to consider some of these issues, suggesting that these testimonies, although they have provided the bedrock of evidence for much camp history, have been both undervalued and taken too simply at face value.

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