Remembering Robben Island: English, by Jacques Claassen

Remembering Robben Island: English, by Jacques Claassen.

The coffie-table book Remembering Robben Island has been written in English, German and French by Jacques Claassen.

Jacques Claassen  

Approaching Robben Island: A tour of Robben Island begins with a boat trip from the V&A Waterfont, and may include sightings of southern right or humpback whales. The island is rich in history, having been used as a pantry, quarantine, British prison, infirmary, leper colony, garrison and, during apartheid, a maximum security prison for political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela. It is currently a museum and World Heritage Site.

Welcome to the island: Murray's Bay Harbour, which was constructed at the beginning of World War II in an effort to protect Cape Town from potential sea attacks, is where visitors first alight onto Robben Island soil. Previous pages: Some of the island's buildings, including the lighthouse.

Uncaged beauties: New arrivals on the luxury ferry Sikhululekile, which means 'we are free' in Xhosa, are not only greeted by a view of the maximum security prison nearby, but by graceful swift terns and other birds.

Prison precinct: Just before entering the prison compound, the bus tour of the island takes visitors past an anti-aircraft gun, a reminder of the island's stint as a World War II garrison.

Regulating prison life: Billy Nair, the 69th detainee in 1964, was given a 20-year sentence for sabotage. Classed as coloured/Asiatic, his food allowance was slightly more generous than that of the black convicts. Today former inmates conduct tours of the island.

This is an extract form the coffie-table book: Remembering Robben Island, by Jacques Claassen.

Title: Remembering Robben Island
Author: Jacques Claassen
Publisher: Randomhouse Struik
Cape Town, South Africa 2010
ISBN 9781770077980