Dagboeke as oorlogsdokumentasie: Johanna van Warmelo se dagboek en haar belewing van die Anglo-Boereoorlog

Abstract

Diaries as historical documentation: Jotianna van Warmelo’s diary and her experience of the Anglo-Boer War
Johanna van Warmelo resided in Sunnyside, Pretoria, with her mother virtually throughout the Anglo-Boer War. She was 23 years old when the war broke out. Her fiancé, whom she later married, lived in Holland. Johanna started a diary immediately after the outbreak of the war In this she not only wrote down factual reports, but also her perceptions of the war and the belligerents. The diary grew into seven volumes of more than a thousand pages. After serving as a nurse in the Irene Concentration Camp, Johanna in 1901 became involved in the spying activities of the Secret Service Commission of the Boers in Pretoria. Through assisting the famous scout J.J. Naude, she and her mother formed a crucial link between the Boer commanders in the field and President Kruger in Europe. She later related those experiences in The Petticoat Commando. It was published in both English and Dutch and eventually also in Afrikaans and became one of the classic factual tales of adventure of the Anglo- Boer War. In this article her diary is analysed as a source on the war