Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd

Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (8 September 1901 – 6 September 1966) was Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 until his assassination in 1966. Unlike his predecessors, Verwoerd was not born in South Africa, but immigrated at age two with his parents from the Netherlands. A polarizing figure, he is widely considered the architect of apartheid, and was prime minister during the Sharpeville Massacre, the banning of the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress, and the treason trial of Nelson Mandela and others. He also presided over the establishment of a republic through the use of questionable electoral practises in a whites-only referendum. However, in a controversial 2004 poll by the South African Broadcasting Corporation, asking South Africans to name the top 100 South Africans of all time, he was voted 19th.

Youth

Verwoerd was born in Weesp, near Amsterdam in the Netherlands. His father, Wilhelm Verwoerd, a building contractor and a missionary for the Dutch Reformed Church, relocated the family to South Africa in 1903. Verwoerd obtained his doctorate in Afrikaans at Stellenbosch University. In the 1930s he made brief visits to Germany and the USA.

Related Topics:
Weesp - Amsterdam - Netherlands - Missionary - Dutch Reformed Church - Afrikaans - Stellenbosch University - 1930s - Germany - USA

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