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Ossewabrandwag
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Ossewabrandwag ("Oxwagon Sentinel") (OB) was a nationalist Afrikaner organization in South Africa, founded in Bloemfontein on February 4, 1939. It opposed South African entry into World War II on the British side, and created a paramilitary group called Stormjaers (or storm troopers), modelled on the Nazi SA, which carried out sabotage against Jan Smuts' government. The militaristic stance of the OB was clear from the oath that cadets had to take before they became fully fledged storm troopers: 'If I retreat, kill me. If I die, avenge me. If I advance, follow me.'
Many members of the OB were incarcerated during WWII after commiting acts of sabotage in protest against South Africa's alignment with Britain, and in support of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. John Vorster, who would become Prime Minister of South Africa after the death of Hendrik Verwoerd, was detained at Koffiefontein for the duration of the war.
After the war the Ossewabrandwag went underground, but many of its members, including future South African State President P.W. Botha, rose in the ranks of the Apartheid government.
- The Rise of the South African Reich - Chapter 6, Brian Bunting, 1969