Die ikonografie van Afrikanernasionalisme en die ‘vryheidsideaal’ van die Ossewa-Brandwag in die Suid-Afrikaanse interneringskampe van die Tweede Wêreldoorlog (Historia, 2021)
AfrikaansDie Ossewa-Brandwag (OB) was ten nouste geraak deur die noodregulasies van die Unieregering, onder leiding van Jan Smuts, gedurende die Tweede Wêreldoorlog. As organisasie wat openlik pro-Duits en anti-Brits was, en boonop aktief verset het teen Suid-Afrika se deelname aan die oorlog, is die OB in besonder deur die owerheid geteiken. Die OB se ideologiese grondslag was op ŉ sterk Afrikanernasionalistiese basis gebou wat in lyn met Nasionaal-Sosialisme gebring is om die beweging as alternatief op partypolitiek voor te hou. OB-lede het Afrikanernasionalistiese sentimente gehandhaaf wat neergekom het op verset teen Brittanje met die oog op die verkryging van ŉ onafhanklike republiek – die sogenaamde “vryheidsideaal”. Gevolglik het OBlede se aktiewe verset tot grootskaalse internering gelei. Hierdie artikel fokus op die Suid-Afrikaanse interneringskampe van die Tweede Wêreldoorlog en bespreek die nasionalistiese ikonografie wat in die artefakte geskep deur geïnterneerde OB-lede na vore tree. Die artefakte word bespreek teen die breër agtergrond van Afrikanernasionalisme en die ideologie van die OB. Die OB was gekenmerk deur ŉ spesifieke vorm van Afrikanernasionalisme en die vryheidsideaal, sentraal tot die beweging se ideologie, was gekombineer met bestaande Afrikanernasionalistiese doelwitte en ikonografie wat vergestalting gevind het in die kreatiewe uitdrukkings van geïnterneerdes se eie nasionalistiese sentimente. Voorts reflekteer die artefakte die integrasie van Afrikanernasionalistiese ikonografie en die vryheidsideaal met die persoonlike kontekste van gevangenisskap wat illustreer hoe politieke mites omskep kan word in vorme wat betekenis bied vir teenswoordige tydgenootlike kontekste.    EnglishThe emergency measures of the Union government under Jan Smuts had a strong impact on the Ossewa-Brandwag (OB) during the Second World War. The OB was especially targeted by the government because of its overt pro-German and anti-British stance and its active resistance against the war effort. The ideology of the movement was built upon a strong basis of Afrikaner nationalism in conjunction with National Socialism which was supposed to legitimise the movement as an alternative to party politics. OB members expressed Afrikaner nationalist sentiments which meant resistance against Britain with the goal of attaining an independent republic – the socalled “ideal of freedom”. Consequently, the OB’s active resistance led to high numbers of internment. This article focuses on the South African internment camps of the Second World War. The nationalist iconography reflected in the artefacts created by OB members during their internment are analysed within the broader context of Afrikaner nationalism and the ideology of the OB. The OB had a very specific brand of Afrikaner nationalism and the ideal of freedom, central to its ideology, was combined with existing Afrikaner nationalist goals and subsequently nationalist iconography manifested itself in internees’ creative expressions of their own personal nationalist sentiments. The artefacts also reflect the integration of Afrikaner nationalist iconography and the OB’s ideal of freedom with personal contexts of imprisonment illustrating how political myths can be reshaped to provide meaning for the present realities of contemporaries.
Keywords: Ossewa-Brandwag; Tweede Wêreldoorlog; Afrikanernasionalisme; noodregulasies; internering; interneringskampe; Koffiefontein; verset; Oxwagon Sentinel; Second World War; Afrikaner nationalism; state of emergency; internment camps; internment; resistance