IMAGES OF THE MONTH - APRIL 2020 - Nazis Hijack Oom Paul Kruger
Image of the Week No. 1 (Below)
I was gobsmacked when I saw this image of a noble and resolute Paul Kruger looking down on marching Dutch Waffen SS troopers. It is a stunning piece of South African Boer / Afrikaner history wrapped up in the ethos of the Third Reich, a bit of history trapped forever like a fly in a piece of ancient amber, a window on a fleeting moment in the past. It is fantastic in every sense of the word, not least because in this propaganda / recruitment image the Nazis have shown Kruger as they wanted to be seen themselves, indomitable, strong and determined. The reality was rather different for 'Oom Paul' in his later years when he suffered from dementia. I have been collecting images of him ever since I found a postcard of him in which he wears the same uncomprehending expression as a deceased family member.
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Image of the Week No.2 (Below)
Some may already have seen the postcard (below) with Li'l Abner in a P-51 Mustang, the fighter flown by the SAAF's No. 2 'Cheetah' Squadron. This postcard will be used to illustrate the Club's collaborative 'Postal History of South Africa in the Korean War'. In the postcard's top right is a B/W image showing the SAAF roundel with leaping Springbok. This recognises No. 2 Squadron as an integral part of the USAAF's 18th FBG (Fighter Bomber Group). The card was produced as a Christmas Greeting Card during one of their three Christmases spent in the Korean peninsula. As a boy I wasn't overly fond of Lil Abner from Dogpatch but man, his girlfriend was drop-dead gorgeous. How could a girl that beautiful fall for a guy that dumb? :>) To every a lonesome serviceman in Korea, and there were many, Dogpatch must have seemed like a faraway hill-billy heaven. It wasn't long after that someone introduced Mountain Dew to SA with a hill-billy jingle. As I recall, Li'l Abner's favourite tipple was 'Kickapoo Joy Juice', funny at the time but arguably disrespectful to a native American tribe who couldn't hold their likker. BTW, if you have any items from the Korean War, please email a 96dpi scan to me and I will include them as an illustration once the text has been signed off.
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Image of the Week No. 3 (Below)
This week we are proud to show Jamie Smith's display "How South Africa Won WW2". For those who don't get the title, Jamie's argument is that South Africa won the war by providing the gold that saved Britain from bankruptcy in the early, desperate, days of the war, gold that bought weapons from the USA and which made the Lend Lease Act financially possible, all of which allowed Britain to continue to fight on to Victory. However, there was another 'gold' with which South Africa won the war. This was a Castle lager, a beer of such legendary awfulness that the Germans retreated clear across North Africa and up Italy in fear of being made to drink the stuff. As can be seen from the postcard below, a heroic Springbok is advancing on the Jerries armed with no more than a pint of South Africa's least admired brew. In the face of such a terror weapon, the Germans are retreating, crying "Achtung, achtung, kamaraden. Lauf, lauf. Mit Castle lager bewaffnete Springböcke kommen". With the South Africans advancing deep into northern Italy, it is thought that the Germans surrendered when they did in order to prevent Castle lager from flooding the beer-loving southern German heartlands and so ending their ancient, proud and diverse brewing culture. When it came to chosing between beer and der Fuehrer, the Germans chose beer. And it wasn't Castle lager.
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