Hendrik (Frensch) Verwoerd - Youth, Architect of apartheid, A republic, Assassination

South African statesman and prime minister (1958–66), born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He studied at Stellenbosch, where he became professor of applied psychology (1927) and sociology (1933), and edited the nationalist Die Transvaler (1938–48). Elected senator in 1948, he became minister of native affairs (1950), and introduced most of the apartheid legislation with the support of the premier, Strijdom, whom he succeeded. His administration was marked by further development and ruthless application of the highly controversial apartheid policy, an attempt on his life (1960), and the establishment of South Africa as a republic (1961). He was assassinated in Cape Town.

Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (Amsterdam, 8 September 1901 – Cape Town, 6 September 1966) was Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 until his assassination in 1966. Unlike his predecessors, Verwoerd was not born in South Africa, but immigrated at age two with his parents from the Netherlands. However, in a controversial 2004 poll by the South African Broadcasting Corporation, asking South Africans to name the top 100 South Africans of all time, he was voted 19th.

Numerous major roads in towns and cities in South Africa are named after Verwoerd, although some have now been renamed. Verwoerd Hospital (now Pretoria Academic Hospital).

Youth

Verwoerd went to high school at Wynberg. Due to the worldwide spanish flu epidemic, Verwoerd only sat for his matriculation exams in February 1919.

Verwoerd is often accused of having been a student of Dr Eugen Fischer, who conceived of the theories on racial hygiene in Germany. However, Verwoerd's thesis was not on anthropology or social-Darwinism: Verwoerd was a psychologist and only much later branched out into sociology. In the bibliography, Verwoerd cited a fair number of German works, inter alia those of Freud, but none of Fischer.

Verwoerd left for Germany after the completion of his doctoral studies in 1925, and stayed there during 1926 while visiting the Universities of Hamburg, Berlin and Leipzig. During this visit, he might have met with Fischer, but even at this stage, social-Darwinism was not the focus of Verwoerd's research. He published a number of works dating back to that time, which are all still available at the library of the University of Stellenbosch:

A method for the experimental production of emotions (1926) "'n Bydrae tot die metodiek en probleemstelling vir die psigologiese ondersoek van koerante-advert" (1928) ("A contribution on the psychological methodology of newspaper advertisement") The distribution of "attention" and its testing (1928) Effects of fatigue on the distribution of attention (1928) A contribution to the experimental investigation of testimony (1929?) "Oor die opstel van objektiewe persoonlikheidsbepalingskemas" (1930?) ("Objective criteria to dermine personality types") "Oor die persoonlikheid van die mens en die beskrywing daarvan" (1930?) ("On the human personality and the description thereof")

His fiancee, Betsie Schoombie, joined him in Germany and they were subsequently married on 7 January 1927. Millar, who did an in-depth study on the early career of Verwoerd, concluded that there is no evidence that Verwoerd had been infected by the racial ideology of the National Socialists in Germany. His lecture notes and memoranda at Stellenbosch stressed that there were no biological differences between the big racial groups, and concluded that "this was not really a factor in the development of a higher social civilization by the Caucausians." Verwoerd's admiration of the American doctrine of "separate but equal" cannot be equated with the racial ideology of the National Socialists.

Architect of apartheid

Verwoerd is often attributed the title of “Architect of apartheid”.

The following principal "Apartheid acts" were introduced during Verwoerd’s tenure as Prime Minister:

The Promotion of Black Self-Government Act (1958) This law set up separate territorial governments in the 'homelands', designated lands for black people where they could have a vote.

A republic

During Verwoerd's term in office, South Africa ceased to be a Commonwealth realm under Queen Elizabeth II known as the Union of South Africa, instead becoming a republic in 1961, known as the Republic of South Africa. and Verwoerd's antipathy towards the British Crown was long standing;

The opposition United Party and many English-speaking whites of British descent were opposed to a republic, but once again, Verwoerd changed the law to his advantage: He lowered the voting age for whites to 18, and allowed whites in South West Africa to vote. Johannes Gerhardus Strijdom's government had brought in a rule requiring governments to seek 2/3 approval of the electorate before carrying out a constitutional change, but this rule was ignored: Verwoerd barely managed to cross the 50% threshold. He persuaded many South Africans that given the first assassination attempt on him, Harold Macmillan's Winds of Change speech and international condemnation following the Sharpeville massacre, South Africa would have to go it alone by becoming a republic. Many South Africans of English origin voted for the change believing that South Africa would remain in the Commonwealth, suggesting that there may have been significant numbers of Afrikaners opposed to the change, given that they made up a much larger proportion of the voting population. Verwoerd also managed to persuade them by keeping the system of government almost exactly the same (except that the president would be chosen by both houses). The Republic of South Africa came into existence on 31 May 1961, chosen because it was the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging that had brought the Anglo-Boer War to an end in 1902.

Following India's assumption of republic status, it was agreed by Commonwealth leaders that being a republic was not incompatible with membership, but that a Commonwealth Realm would have to reapply for Commonwealth membership if it became a republic.

At the meeting of Commonwealth Prime Ministers held in London, Verwoerd argued that apartheid was just a matter of good labour policy. As a result of widespread opposition from the leaders of non-white New Commonwealth countries as well as Old Commonwealth member Canada and the threat that several countries would resign from the Commonwealth if South Africa's application was approved, Verwoerd withdrew South Africa's application to remain a member of the Commonwealth on 15 March 1961. South Africa's membership officially lapsed on 31 May when it officially became a republic.

South Africa's Commonwealth membership was restored in 1994, although it remains a republic.

Assassination

On 16 April 1960, Verwoerd was shot and injured by David Pratt while opening the Rand Easter Show at Milner Park, Johannesburg.

In 1966, Verwoerd was stabbed to death in the House of Assembly by Dimitri Tsafendas, a parliamentary clerk, who escaped the death penalty on the grounds of insanity, saying that a large worm in his stomach told him to kill Verwoerd.

Tsafendas's motive for killing Verwoerd remains unclear.