Traces of black forced labour camps. Kimberley and Dry Harts, 1900-1902

ABSTRAC / SAMEVATTTING

The South African War was a conflict that saw all the protagonists deliberately target civilians and is a harbinger of 20th century Total War. Civilians, and their resources, were harnessed to underwrite military operations, combined with scorched earth and the emergence of internment camps, later known as concentration camps. Set against the backdrop of concentration camps in Cuba and the Philippines, genocidal campaigns by Imperial Germany against the Herero people in German South West Africa soon followed in 1906.
Although civilian internment in was not genocidal by design and purpose, the high loss of life and bitterness amongst the Boer descendants shaped the political narrative of 20th century South Africa. Native Refugee Camps, now known as black concentration camps, were far more lethal and designed along a completely different model to that of the Boer camps. Yet the memory of this experience has only in the last two decades entered historical discourse. Drawing on the archaeological record, this paper examines the camps which interned black civilians at Kimberley and Dry Harts, during December 1900 until December 1902. Situated 170 kilometers apart, their identification occurred during 2001-2008.

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