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Lizzie van Zyl

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Lizzie van Zyl
Born
Elizabeth Cecilia van Zyl

1894 (1894)
Died(1901-05-09)9 May 1901 (aged 6–7)
Cause of deathTyphoid; in possible addition to severe neglect.
Resting placeBloemfontein concentration camp
Known forBoer concentration camp inmate

Elizabeth Cecilia van Zyl (1894 (1894)(1901-05-09)9 May 1901),[1][2][3] was a Boer child who died in the Bloemfontein concentration camp from typhoid during the Second Boer War.[2][3][4]

Lizzie was a child of Hermanus Egbert Pieter van Zyl and Elizabeth Cecilia van Zyl.[5][6] She and her mother Elizabeth were inmates of the Bloemfontein concentration camp. They were given hardly any food, because they were Boers.

She died in 1901, being six or seven years old.

After she died, anti-war activist Emily Hobhouse used her death as a example of the sufferings of the Boers in the concentration camps. Hobhouse visited Lizzie in the concentration camp and described that she was a "weak and frail child in desperate need of good care." Hobhouse also took a photograph of Lizzie during her visit. Initially, Hobhouse's reporters refused to show the photograph to the world.

References

[change | change source]
  1. "Lizzie van Zyl (concentration camp child / konsentrasiekampkind)". geni.com. Geni. A MyHeritage Company. 20 January 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2023. Bloemfontein concentration camp (Typhoid fever, possible severe neglect)
  2. 2.0 2.1 "British Concentration Camps of the South African War 1900–1902: Bloemfontein". University of Cape Town. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  3. 3.0 3.1 van Heyningen, Elizabeth (8 June 2010). "A tool for modernisation? The Boer concentration camps of the South African War, 1900–1902" (PDF). South African Journal of Science. 106 (5–6). Retrieved 13 September 2016.
  4. Godby, Michael (2010). "Confronting Horror: Emily Hobhouse and the Concentration Camp Photographs of the South African War" (PDF). Department of Historical Studies. University of Cape Town. Retrieved 25 August 2016.
  5. Title: SRC 71 Bloemfontein CR, Type: Camp register, Location: Free State Archives Repository, Reference No.: SRC 71, Notes: p.20
  6. "Hermanus Egebert Pieter van Zyl, b2c7d1e1f1g8". geni.com. Geni. A MyHeritage Company. 29 April 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2023. Hermanus Egebert Pieter van Zyl, b2c7d1e1f1g8