HG0017

Did You Know?

The Vredefort Road concentration camp cemetery is located near Koppies in the Free State province. During the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), the British military established a network of concentration camps for Boer civilians and, later, Black Africans. The camp at Vredefort Road was one of the smaller such camps in the Orange River Colony, and it operated during a period when disease, particularly measles and enteric fever, caused high mortality rates among internees, especially children. The cemetery is the final resting place for many of those who died in the camp, and it is a tangible reminder of the civilian suffering during the war. Historical records indicate that the Vredefort Road camp was established in 1900, and it held Boer families who had been removed from farms in the surrounding districts. The camp's location near the railway line was typical, as the British used rail infrastructure for supply and administration. The death toll at Vredefort Road was relatively modest compared to larger camps like Bloemfontein or Norvalspont, but it still included numerous graves, mostly of young children. The cemetery today is maintained as a heritage site, with a memorial or simple grave markers, and it is part of the broader network of concentration camp cemeteries across South Africa that are commemorated by the War Graves Board and local heritage bodies. Contextually, the town of Koppies, established in the late 19th century, lies in the fertile maize-producing region of the Free State. The camp cemetery is one of several in the province that serve as sites of memory for the approximately 26,000 women and children who died in Boer camps, as well as the more than 20,000 Black Africans who perished in separate camps. The cemetery at Vredefort Road is a protected grave site under South African heritage legislation, and it is often visited by descendants of camp survivors and historians studying the war's impact on civilian populations.

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