The National Women's Monument in Bloemfontein, South Africa, Die Nasionale Vrouemonument

Photo credit - Carlviloria

This national monument commemorates the approximately 27,000 Boer women and children who died in the British concentration camps during the Second Boer War of 1899-1902 between the Boers and Britain.

As part of Britain’s military strategy, civilians were forcibly removed from their homes and confined in camps; the poor conditions led to malnutrition and endemic contagious diseases that ended in over 27,000 deaths, the majority of which were women and children.

In 1906, Martinus Steyn, the president of the Orange Free State Republic, initiated the idea to erect a monument that honors the people who died in the British concentration camps. President Steyn and his wife, Rachel Isabella Steyn, funded the project committee. English-speaking members of the Bloemfontein Town Council and others who supported the war objected to the monument, claiming it would reflect poorly on Great Britain.

The Afrikaner community fundraised the £10,000 cost of the monument. The committee chose Architect Frans Soff and sculptor Anton van Wouw to design and build it. Van Wouw created the statue based on a sketch by Emily Hobhouse, a British humanitarian activist.

The monument consists of a 35m tall sandstone obelisk with semi-circular walls on each side. In front of the obelisk, a bronze statue of two sorrowing women and a dying child sits on a plinth.
The inscription on the plinth reads-
“TO OUR
HEROINES
AND DEAR CHILDREN
“THY WILL BE DONE.”
THIS NATIONAL MONUMENT HAS BEEN ERECTED
IN COMMEMORATION OF THE 26 370 WOMEN AND CHILDREN
WHO DIED IN THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS
AS WELL AS OTHER WOMEN AND CHILDREN
WHO SUCCUMBED ELSEWHERE
AS A RESULT OF THE WAR OF 1899 – 1902.
UNVEILED ON 16TH DECEMBER 1913.”

The monument was unveiled on December 16, 1913, attended by about 20,000 South Africans. Thirteen years later, Emily Hobhouse’s ashes were buried at the foot of the monument. Also beside the monument are the graves of Christiaan de Wet, Rev. John Daniel Kestell, President of the Orange Free State Martinus Steyn, and his wife.

It is located 3 km south of central Bloemfontein and stands in harmony with the local Boer farms overlooking the surrounding kopjes and distant plains. The Anglo-Boer War Museum is nearby.
Over the years, the monument was upgraded with the addition of 44 concentration camp memorial stones along the paved path to the monument, commemorative plaques of Mrs (president) Nellie Swart (1963) and the actress Wilna Snyman (2013), images of Farewell (1986), Banneling (1983) and Bittereinder (1994) and the plaques for the centenary of the Peace of Reunification (2002).

The Women’s Monument serves as a gathering place for ceremonies. Every year, students of C&N Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje (“C&N Girls’ Secondary School Orange”) in Bloemfontein walk the 10-km distance from the school to the monument in memory of President Steyn and its historical significance.

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Monumentlaan, Faunasig, Bloemfontein, 9300, South Africa

 

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