HG0032

Did You Know?

The Heidelberg Concentration Camp Monument is located within the Kloof Cemetery in Heidelberg, Gauteng. During the Second Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902), the British military established a concentration camp at Heidelberg to house Boer civilians, primarily women and children, who had been removed from farms in the surrounding districts. The camp was operational from late 1900 until the war's end in 1902, and it was one of several such camps in the Transvaal. Conditions in these camps were notoriously poor, with outbreaks of measles, dysentery, and other diseases leading to high mortality rates, particularly among children. The monument in Kloof Cemetery serves as a memorial to the internees who died at the Heidelberg camp. Historical records indicate that over 500 people, mostly children, perished in the camp and were buried in the cemetery. The monument itself was erected after the war, likely in the early 1900s, to commemorate these victims. It stands as a somber reminder of the human cost of the conflict, which is a significant part of South African heritage. Heidelberg, established in 1862, was a small town in the then South African Republic (Transvaal). During the war, it served as a local administrative and military hub for the British forces. The Kloof Cemetery remains an active burial ground, and the concentration camp section is preserved as a heritage site. The monument is a plain, upright stone or obelisk-style marker, typical of Boer war memorials of that era, and is maintained by local heritage authorities.

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