Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Prinsloo, Dioné

Titel

Die Johannesburg-Periode in Dr. H. F. Verwoerd Se Loopbaan

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Erscheinungsjahr

1979

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• In this thesis a study was made of the influence and attitude of Dr H.F. Verwoerd (later Prime Minister of South Africa) on a wide range of vital matters during the period 1937 to 1948. During this time he was the first Editor-in-Chief of the Johannesburg daily paper, Die Transvaler. The H.F. Verwoerd collection was an important source of information. Additional material came from the collections of documents of Mr J.G. Strijdom, Dr D.F. Malan and others, and Die Transvaler was used as primary source since it reflects Verwoerd's strong personal influence. This is particularly true of the Editorials which were usually written by himself. Correspondence and interviews with various people (mainly journalists and politicians) who collaborated with Verwoerd during this period, provided important information.Dr Verwoerd exchanged Stellenbosch and an academic career for Johannesburg with the dual purpose to found Die Transvaler as Nationalist newspaper in the Transvaal and to help realize the aims of the National Party on the Rand. As Editor-in-Chief of Die Transvaler Verwoerd's position was an influential one. He became actively involved in his many fields of interest.As a member of the National Party he furthered the republican ideal and participated in the compilation of a draft republican constitution. He withheld his support from wartime Afrikaner movements such as the Ossewa-Brand= wag because of his conviction that the Herenigde Nasionale Party could encompass all facets of Afrikaner life.The editorial attitude of Die Transvaler on political matters such as segregation, the Coloureds, Indians, communism, miners' unions and double medium education, reflected Dr Verwoerd's views. He was an advocate of racial differentiation and was convinced that South Africa had lebensraum for all its races.As an active member of the Afrikaner-Broederbond Verwoerd vigorously supported the Afrikaner ideals of cultural and economic self-realization. In his personal capacity as well as through Die Transvaler, Verwoerd in= volved himself in the problem of the 'poor whiter'.This period was important in Dr Verwoerd's career. It was the interim phase between his academic and political careers and much of the policy he was later to apply, was formulated during this time.