Transvaal Concentration Camps

Irene, the hometown of Jan Smuts had 2 concentration campsites. It was located near the station. Many people died in these 2 sites and the graveyard can still be visited.

This is one of Transvaal's oldest towns and was established round about 1830. It has one of the countries oldest cemeteries. Here lies the graves of 968 Boer women and children who died in the concentration camps during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902).

On the site where the concentration camp was, a commemorative museum was erected. In this area known for it's bitter cold winters, 1381 women and children passed away.

A garden of remembrance was created at Vyfhoek at the old camp graveyard, in honour of those women and children who died during their captivity in the Potchefstroom concentration camp.

In 1918 this Voortrekker town erected an impressive memorial in white and black marble. This magnificent statue, with it's black memorial wall, shows the names of 772 women and children who died in the British concentration camps (1899-1902). It's beauty is in glaring contrast with the gruesome deprivation and sorrow, that the women and children had been subjected to by the British Empire.