The life and times of Christoph Sandrock, missionary of the Berlin Mission Society during the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) at Springfontein, South Africa

Abstract

This article traces the life and times of Christoph Sandrock (1845–1930), a missionary with the Berlin Mission Society, during the Anglo Boer War at Springfontein in the southern Free State, South Africa. Based mainly on his diary, his Erinnerungen aus dem südafrikansichen Kriege aus dem Jahre 1899–1902 and primary sources from South African archives, this research not only contributes to the biography of a remarkable missionary, but also to our knowledge of the local experience of the Anglo-Boer War by blacks and whites who lived at Springfontein or who were forced during the war to reside in the differentiated refugee (or concentration) camps that were erected at the railway station.1 Sandrock lived in Springfontein throughout the war and ministered to the Boer commandos, a German and a British field hospital, his mission congregation and the white and black concentration camps. He received international visitors – Missionsdirektor Gensichen (from Berlin), the German Consul, and the activist Emily Hobhouse. The article discloses a unique perspective on the Anglo-Boer War, which was renowned for its scorched earth tactics, guerrilla warfare and concentration camps.