Karen Horn - In Enemy Hands: South Africas POWs in World War II

When we read about war, we are more often than not spellbound by the heroic acts of the men in the firing line, their bravery, endurance and all too often, their sacrifices. We speculate and wonder about the heart-wrenching, or heartless, decisions and military tactics of the generals and politicians who put these young men at risk.

Today, books on World War II are plentiful, yet for some reason, there seem to be remarkably few publications on South Africas role in this war, which had such an influence on how we live today. There is even less written about those who participated on the margins of the war, especially those who were physically removed from the battlefields through capture by enemy forces. South Africas prisoners of war during World War II, their experiences and recollections, were almost forgotten.

In 2010 I tracked down a number of former POWs, all of whom expressed surprise at being asked to share their experiences of almost 70 years earlier. Together with written memoirs and archival documents, their interviews revealed rich narratives of hardship, endurance, humour, longing and self-discovery. Instead of fighting, these men adapted to another war, one which was fought on the inside of many prison camps. It was a war against hunger and deprivation, at times against ever-encroaching despondency and low morale amongst their companions in captivity.

Considering their experiences, I found it astonishing that almost all of them claimed not to be heroes of any kind. Almost all of the former POWs stated this fact at the beginning of each interview. When one considers that they returned home in 1945 to a country which soon afterwards tried its utmost to promote national amnesia with regard to its participation in the war and that the official war history project was unceremoniously stopped, it is perhaps understandable that these men found it unusual that someone would be interested in their stories many years later.

However, as one of the former POWs put it, they saw history from the inside, and we would do well to take note of what they saw. Seeing the war from the enemys point of view and seeing what it did to its citizens changed how all of them viewed the world. If anyone can teach us anything about the futility of war, it is these men who looked the enemy in the eye every day. This book is about these heroes, the POWs who came back home and who carried on with life.

Acknowledgements

This book would not have been possible had it not been for the former POWs David Brokensha, Stanley Smollan, Fred Geldenhuis, Wessel Oosthuizen, Michael de Lisle, Bill Hindshaw, Clive Luyt, Bernard Schwikkard, Mathys Beukes, Fred van Alphen Stahl, Dick Dickinson and George Tewkesbury who gave their time and patiently answered my many questions. All of the direct quotes by these men in this book were taken from personal interviews that I conducted between 2010 and 2012 in Cape Town, Fish Hoek, Mossel Bay, Hartenbos, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and Pretoria.

Thank you also to the families and friends of former POWs in making available veterans memoirs and photographs, especially Ilse Geldenhuis, Cheryl Reeves, Elizabeth Mugglestone, David Saks, Enid Bates, Marcia Beckley, Donald Gill, Taffy and David Shearing and Anthony Mortlock.

Karen Horn

STELLENBOSCH, 2015