Brothers in war and peace: Constand and Abraham Viljoen and the birth of the new South Africa, by Dennis Cruywagen.

Brothers in war and peace: Constand and Abraham Viljoen and the birth of the new South Africa, by Dennis Cruywagen. Random House Struik - Zebra Press. Cape Town, South Africa 2014. ISBN 9781770226005 / ISBN 978-1-77022-600-5

Brothers in war and peace: Constand and Abraham Viljoen and the birth of the new South Africa, by Dennis Cruywagen. Random House Struik - Zebra Press. Cape Town, South Africa 2014. ISBN 9781770226005 / ISBN 978-1-77022-600-5

Brothers in War and Peace documents the crucial yet largely unheralded role Constand and Abraham Viljoen played in ensuring peace and birth of the new South Africa. Based on interviews with the brothers and other key political figures, author Dennis Cruywagen gives new insights into a time when the country’s future was at high risk.

Dennis Cruywagen  

Military in the blood

'Why cant we agree that we all have dirty hands? We fought a war that should have been avoided from the start or even been abandoned earlier. We fought a dirty war.' Constant Viljoen to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

After the viljoen brothers' year together at the army gymnasium in 1951, when Abraham decided to study theology, Constand opted for a career in the army. In fact, the selection committee had recommended him and not Abraham for a military career. The military afforded him the chance to attend university, and so he and his brother both enrolled at the University of Pretoria the following year. Then a whites-only, Afrikaans-language institution, it stood in what was once the capital of the Transvaal Republic. Constand completed his BSc Mil degree in 1955. 'I was interested in a science and military direction,' he says. 'Then it was the defence force for me.' But the recently graduated Afrikaans-speaker was in for a culture shock: 'The defence force was overwhelmingly English. Everything was English. I was overwhelmingly a Boer. I made no secret of my feelings, which were that I was unhappy with the situation.' His heart revolted at the historical injustices carried out by the English on his people. Being compelled to attend a Union Day celebration offended his Afrikaner nationalism, and fed his inner rebel. By now Constand was in the artillery and driving a second-hand Nash motor car, a snazzy, eye-catching vehicle. 'On that day a group of us, all Afrikaners, were in my car, a Nash. We were on our way to Union Day celebrations. In those days, Pretoria was alive with politics. The whole army was English-orientated. I don't know where I got the courage from, but I tied a Vierkleur [the flag of the Transvaal Republic] to the front of my car before we arrived at the Army College.' Constand's act of defiance showed what was in his heart and publicly exposed the divide between Afrikaans- and English-speaking South Africans serving in the military. Afrikaner resentment, born when the British first arrived in South Africa centuries ago, bristled at the slightest provocation. Language and cultural differences combined with memories of past hurts and bitter wars to drive a wedge between the two groups. The Afrikaners keenly felt their alienation from some of the very English traditions prevalent in the military, and many declined to join the Gunners Artillery Association of South Africa. 'In Ronnie McWilliams I had a good commanding officer,' Constand tells me. 'He was an English-speaker and I thought very highly of him. One day he called me to his office. He said the Association was dying. I said, "Sir, do you have a programme?" He gave me one. It had the artillery memorial badge underneath a crown. Pointing to the crown on the programme, I said, "Whose crown is that?" He replied, "It's the crown of England." I answered, "What do we still have to do with England?" You see, the Anglo-Boer War and South Africa's taking part in England's wars were still affecting me.' More than fifty years after the end of a war that they were not even around to experience, Constand and many other young Afrikaners were looking over their shoulders, imagining the thunder of approaching horses and the shouts of their riders as they charged Boer lines, and the death rattles of women and children dying in concentration camps. They were captives of a shared past, held there by the National Party and the Broederbond. But despite their simmering resentment, Constand and his peers were, after all, hot-blooded youths in a military outfit. [...]

This is an excerpt from the book: Brothers in war and peace: Constand and Abraham Viljoen and the birth of the new South Africa, by Dennis Cruywagen.

Title: Brothers in war and peace
Subtitle: Constand and Abraham Viljoen and the birth of the new South Africa.
Author: Dennis Cruywagen
Genre: Biography
Publisher: Random House Struik
Imprint: Zebra Press
Cape Town, South Africa 2014
ISBN 9781770226005 / ISBN 978-1-77022-600-5
Softcover, 15 x 23 cm, 272 pages, numerous photographs

Cruywagen, Dennis im Namibiana-Buchangebot

Brothers in war and peace: Constand and Abraham Viljoen and the birth of the new South Africa

Brothers in war and peace: Constand and Abraham Viljoen and the birth of the new South Africa

Opposite characters, the twins Abraham and Constand Viljoen were brothers in war and peace and played a crucial role during the the birth of the new South Africa.

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