Ossewabrandwag
Seal of the Ossewabrandwag
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| Motto | My God. My Volk. My land Suid-Afrika. (Afrikaans for My God. My People. My country South Africa.) |
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| Formation | February 4, 1939 |
| Extinction | 1952 |
| Purpose |
Afrikaner nationalism Pro-German Anti-British Opposition to World War II participation |
| Headquarters | Bloemfontein, Union of South Africa |
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Leader
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Johannes Van Rensburg |
The Ossewabrandwag (OB) (English: Ox-wagon Sentinel) was an anti-British and pro-German organization in South Africa during World War II, which opposed South African participation in the war. It was formed in Bloemfontein on 4 February 1939 by pro-German Afrikaners.
During the 19th century, most of the Boers of the northeastern Cape frontier migrated to the interior, and established the Orange Free State and South African Republic, which were independent of Britain. In the Second Boer War (1899–1902), Britain conquered the Boer Republics. The Netherlands and Germany supported the Boer cause.
After the war, there was a general reconciliation between Afrikaners and Britain, culminating in the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910, under the leadership of former Boer fighters such as Louis Botha and Jan Smuts. South African troops, including thousands of Afrikaners, served in the British forces during World War I.
Nonetheless, many Boers remembered the extremely brutal tactics used by Britain in the Boer War and remained resentful of British rule, even loose association with Britain as a Dominion.
The chief vehicle of Afrikaner nationalism at this time was the "Purified National Party" of D. F. Malan, which broke away from the National Party when the latter merged with Smuts' South African Party in 1934. Another important element was the Afrikaner Broederbond, a quasi-secret society founded in 1918, and dedicated to the proposition that "the Afrikaner volk has been planted in this country by the Hand of God..."
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Wikipedia