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Paul Kruger
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Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904), better known as Paul Kruger and affectionately known as Oom Paul (Afrikaans: "Uncle Paul") was State President of the South African Republic (Transvaal). He gained international renown as the face of Boer resistance against the British during the South African or Second Boer War (1899-1902).
Youth
Kruger was born at Bulhoek, his grandfather's farm in the Steynsburg district near the town of Cradock, and grew up on the farm Vaalbank.
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Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (10 October 1825 – 14 July 1904), better known as Paul Kruger and affectionately known as Oom Paul (Afrikaans: "Uncle Paul") was State President of the South African Republic (Transvaal). He gained international renown as the face of Boer resistance against the British during the South African or Second Boer War (1899-1902).
Youth
Kruger was born at Bulhoek, his grandfather's farm in the Steynsburg district near the town of Cradock, and grew up on the farm Vaalbank. He received only three months of formal education, his master being one Tielman Roos, but became knowledgeable from life on the veld. Paul Kruger became proficient in hunting and horse riding. He contributed to the development of guerrilla warfare during the First Boer War. Kruger's father, Casper Kruger, joined the trek party of Hendrik Potgieter when the Great Trek started in 1836.
The trekkers crossed the Vaal River in 1838, and at first stayed in the area that is known today as Potchefstroom. Kruger's father later decided to settle in the district now known as Rustenburg. At the age of 16, Kruger was entitled to choose a farm for himself at the foot of the Magaliesberg, where he settled in 1841.
The following year he married Maria du Plessis, and they went together with Paul Kruger's father to live in the Eastern Transvaal. After the family had returned to Rustenburg, Kruger's wife and infant son died, most probably from fever. He then married his second wife Gezina du Plessis in 1847, who was his constant and devoted companion until her death in 1901. Seven daughters and nine sons were born of the marriage, some dying in infancy.
Paul Kruger was a deeply religious man. He claimed to have only read one book, the Bible, and also claimed to know most of it by heart. He was a member of the Dutch Reformed Church, Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk.
Leadership
In time, Kruger emerged as a leader. He started as a field cornet in the commandos, eventually becoming Commandant-General of the South African Republic. He was appointed member of a commission of the Volksraad, the republican parliament that was to draw up a constitution. People began to take notice of the young man and he played a prominent part in ending the quarrel between the Transvaal leader, Stephanus Schoeman, and M.W. Pretorius. He was present at the Sand River Convention in 1852.
In 1873, Kruger resigned as Commandant-General, and for a time he held no office and retired to his farm, Boekenhoutfontein. However, in 1874 he was elected as a member of the Executive Council and shortly after became the Vice-President of the Transvaal.
Following the annexation of the Transvaal by Britain in 1877, Kruger became the leader of the resistance movement. During the same year, he visited Britain for the first time as the leader of a deputation. In 1878, he formed part of a second deputation. A highlight of his visit to Europe was when he ascended in a hot air balloon and saw Paris from the air.
The First Boer War started in 1880, and the British forces were defeated at Majuba in 1881. Once again, Kruger played an critical role in the negotiations with the British, which led to the restoration of the Transvaal's independence under British suzerainty.
On 30 December 1880, at the age of 55, Kruger was elected President of the Transvaal. One of his first goals was the revision of the Pretoria Convention of 1881; the agreement between the Boers and the British that ended the First Boer War. He again left for Britain in 1883, empowered to negotiate with Lord Derby. Kruger and his companions also visited the Continent and this became a triumph in countries such as Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Spain. In Germany, he attended an imperial banquet at which he was presented to the Emperor, Wilhelm I, and spoke at length with Bismarck.
In the Transvaal, things changed rapidly after the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand. This discovery had far-reaching political repercussions and gave rise to the uitlander (Afrikaans: foreigner) problem, which eventually caused the fall of the Republic. Kruger acknowledged in his memoirs that General Joubert predicted the events that followed afterwards, declaring that instead of rejoicing at the discovery of gold, they should be weeping because it will "cause our land to be soaked in blood."
At the end of 1895, the failed Jameson raid took place; Jameson was forced to surrender and was taken to Pretoria to be handed over to his British countrymen for punishment.
Kruger believed that the Earth is flat; in 1897 he said to a sailor sailing round the world "You don't mean round the world, it is impossible! You mean in the world. Impossible!".
In 1898, Kruger was elected President for the fourth and last time.
Exile
On 11 October 1899, the Second Boer War broke out. On 7 May the following year, Kruger attended the last session of the Volksraad, and left Pretoria on 29 May as Lord Roberts was advancing on the town. For weeks he either stayed in a house at Waterval Onder or in his railway carriage at Machadodorp in the then Eastern Transvaal, now Mpumalanga. In October, he left South Africa on the Dutch warship Gelderland, sent by Wilhelmina, which had simply ignored the British naval blockade of South Africa. His wife was too ill to travel and remained in South Africa; she died on 20 July 1901.
Kruger went to Marseille and stayed for a while in The Netherlands, before moving to Clarens, Switzerland, where he died on 14 July 1904. He was buried on 16 December 1904 in the Heroes Acre of the Church Street cemetery, Pretoria.
Physical appearance
Kruger was a large squarely built man, with dark brown hair and brown eyes. As he aged, his hair went snowy white. He wore a beard, but never a mustache. Martin Meredith cited W. Morcom's statement that had very oily hair and sunken eyes. He was most often dressed in a black frock coat with a top hat. Never far from his pipe, he was a chain smoker. The image of Kruger in his top hat and frock coat, smoking his pipe was used to great effect in the Anglo-Boer war by British cartoonists.
According to legend, he was named Mamelodi'a Tshwane (Tswana: "whistler of the Apies River") by the inhabitants of the surrounding area for his ability to whistle and imitate bird calls.
Legacy
His former Pretoria residence is now the Kruger House Museum.
A statue of Paul Kruger in his characteristic formal dress stands in Church Square, Pretoria.
The Kruger National Park is named after him, as is the Krugerrand coin, which features his face on the obverse.
Pipe manufacturers still produce a style named "Oom Paul", the characteristic large-bowled full-bent shape often seen in photographs of Paul Kruger and believed to have been designed especially for him.
In 2004 he was voted 27th in the SABC3's Great South Africans poll conducted by the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
The Nazis used his biography (Kruger had German ancestors) for one of their anti-British propaganda films: Ohm Krüger, shot by director Hans Steinhoff in 1940–41. The role of Kruger in this movie was played by Emil Jannings.
A street in St. Gallen, Switzerland – Krügerstrasse – is named after Kruger, most likely because he enjoyed a reputation as a freedom fighter in late 19th century Switzerland. This has since repeatedly given rise to controversy because of attention given to Kruger's racist statements (typical of his period) about indigenous Africans, and attempts have been made to rename the street.
See also
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