WM0017

Did You Know?

The Heidelberg Concentration Camp Monument in Kloof Cemetery commemorates the internment of Boer civilians during the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902). Heidelberg, in what is now Gauteng, was the site of a British-run concentration camp established during the war. The camp held Afrikaner women, children, and elderly men who had been removed from farms under the British 'scorched earth' policy. The monument, erected in 1902, likely marks the graves of those who died in the camp, many from disease and malnutrition. The camp at Heidelberg was one of over 40 such camps in South Africa, where an estimated 26,000 to 28,000 Boer civilians died, mostly children, alongside thousands of Black Africans in separate camps. The monument serves as a tangible reminder of the civilian suffering during the war and is part of the broader heritage landscape of the town, which also includes the historic Heidelberg Castle-like fort and the old jail. The Kloof Cemetery itself is a significant burial ground for the town, and the monument stands as a focal point for remembrance of the camp's victims. The exact number of burials at the site is not widely published, but the monument is a recognized local heritage marker, reflecting the post-war effort to memorialize the losses of the Boer community.

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