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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | 'Non-Europeans Should Be Kept Away from the Temptations of Towns': Controlling Black South African Soldiers during the Second World War |
Author: | Grundlingh, Louis |
Year: | 1992 |
Periodical: | International Journal of African Historical Studies |
Volume: | 25 |
Issue: | 3 |
Pages: | 539-560 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | South Africa |
Subjects: | Blacks black soldiers World War II History and Exploration Military, Defense and Arms Ethnic and Race Relations |
External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/219024 |
Abstract: | South Africa's military authorities were concerned that the participation of black soldiers in the Second World War might be a threat to the control the white people had over the black people as well as the social structure of South Africa. The authorities therefore enforced strict measures to control the activities and movements of black soldiers. There were a few special areas where this concern was most acutely felt and where overt measures to enforce the government's racial policy were adopted. The contact of black troops in areas such as North Africa, the Middle East, and Europe with social and political conditions vastly different from those in South Africa was seen as potentially dangerous. Another concern was that black soldiers, through their army experience, would start to regard themselves as equals to the white soldiers. The authorities were also concerned that friction and even clashes between the black soldiers and civilians (particularly white civilians) might occur. This article examines the measures adopted to control the black soldiers and the soldiers' response to these measures. Ref. |