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    My Life Growing up White During Apartheid in South Africa
    My Life Growing up White During Apartheid in South Africa
    My Life Growing up White During Apartheid in South Africa
    Ebook116 pages1 hour

    My Life Growing up White During Apartheid in South Africa

    By Philip Hummel

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    About this ebook

    This book is a short collection of memories about being white and living in South Africa during Apartheid. I wrote this book for the reader to easily understand what it was like to live in this environment.

    It is not a history lesson, but some personal experiences that I went through living in South Africa at the time. Living through apartheid I never even realized that it even existed, because we were brought up to believe that it was normal. Life was paradise for me and hell for others! Many of us did not know or care, and even if we did try to change the system, it would have resulted in prison or death.

    We believed that changing apartheid would have caused the country to fall into the hands of the communists, and many white people were fearful that black rule would have destroyed South Africa and their lives.

    The other side of the coin is that I cant comprehend what the lives of most blacks was like, which was excruciatingly difficult, something that I didnt personally experience.

    Our history books never taught us anything good about blacks. I cant remember ever learning anything positive that blacks did. What I did learn was that they were lazy, uneducated, dangerous, and drank a lot.

    Stay away from them, and if they bother you call the police.

    There were serious injustices in South Africa, and many black people suffered under the Apartheid Regime.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse
    Release dateJan 25, 2011
    ISBN9781456718015
    My Life Growing up White During Apartheid in South Africa
    Author

    Philip Hummel

    Philip was born and raised in South Africa. He grew up not having any social interaction with blacks as a child, or as a teenager because of Apartheid. He is also Jewish and experienced a great deal of anti-Semitism which affected him profoundly. After high school he was drafted into the armed forces and forced to fight in a war for the Apartheid Regime. Philip saw many terrible and tragic events that affected him deeply. He also goes through some of the most extraordinary events that engulfed him during his military service which eventually caused him to leave the country.

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    • 5/5
      Easy reading, and quite on point. whould have made a nice 'coming of age' film

    Book preview

    My Life Growing up White During Apartheid in South Africa - Philip Hummel

    © 2011 Philip Hummel. All rights reserved.

    No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

    First published by AuthorHouse 1/21/2011

    ISBN: 978-1-4567-1800-8 (sc)

    ISBN: 978-1-4567-1801-5 (e)

    Library of Congress Control Number: 2011900621

    Printed in the United States of America

    Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

    and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

    Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

    This book is printed on acid-free paper.

    Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any Web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

    Table of Contents

    Introduction

    What was Apartheid?

    Who are the Blacks

    Who are the Coloureds and Indians?

    Who are the Whites?

    Religions

    Born in Upington

    Educational Field trip

    Moving to Cape Town

    Scampy the Rat Catcher

    Whites only on the beaches

    Seeing Robben Island Everyday

    Black Body Builder Photo in my School Bag

    Camps Bay High School

    The School Inspector

    Mandela on Robben Island

    My Uncle David

    The ‘Homelands’ (A way to make blacks non citizens in their own country)

    Education

    Serving a Black Man in a Restaurant

    Getting Banned and Black Beauty

    TV in South Africa

    Marnie my Malay friend

    Marriage, Relationships and the Immorality Act

    Transportation

    Music from the United States and South Africa

    Sports in South Africa and my Uncle Abe

    The South African Police

    Absolute fear of the police

    Being Black in White South Africa

    Children begging for Food on the Railway Tracks

    Black and White Housing

    The word ‘Kaffir’

    The Hated Pass Laws

    Crazy Rules of Apartheid

    Mixed Racial Parties in Cape Town

    My Friend Neil Almost Got us Killed

    Jews, Religion, and Apartheid

    The Army

    Angry Enough to Kill

    Afrikaners Talking About Blacks in the Army

    English Speakers Were Called ‘Soutpiel’

    Training for War

    Horse School

    To the Border and War

    Cruelty on the Train

    Farmer Killed by Terrorists

    Going into Angola

    Dead Cubans

    We Blow Up a House

    A Man With no Shoes

    A ‘Prehistoric’ Village in Angola

    Veggie Butcher

    Entering a Deserted Village in Angola

    We Owe our Lives to our Captain

    The Rape

    Brutality in Angola

    Leaving Angola

    Smuggling a Rifle Out

    A Shiny Parker Pen

    Going Home, Back to the Base, More Training

    Going Home and Payback

    Back Home

    My Decision to Leave

    Leaving Never to Return

    Epilogue

    About the Author

    Acknowledgments

    I would like to thank all the ex-South Africans, family, and friends for all their personal information and facts, that made it possible for me to write this book.

    Cover

    Me with my nanny Anna on vacation in Cape Town 1956

    Introduction

    South Africa is a country of unimaginable beauty, especially Cape Town where I grew up. The beautiful Atlantic and Indian Oceans are complimented by beautiful fine white sand. The exquisite mountains nestle the city in magical storybook imagination, that can be equaled by no other country.

    This book is a short collection of memories about living in South Africa during apartheid. I wrote this book for the reader to easily understand what it was like to live in this environment.

    It is not a history lesson but some personal experiences that I went through living in South Africa at the time. Living through apartheid, I never even realized that it existed, because we were brought up to believe that it was normal. Growing up we were sheltered without knowing anything else .

    Life was paradise for me and hell for others. Many of us did not know or care, and even if we did try to change the system, it would have resulted in prison or death.

    Most white people chose not to get involved or rock the boat. We believed that changing apartheid would have caused the country to fall into the hands of the communists, and many white people were fearful that black rule would have destroyed South Africa and their lives.

    The other side of the coin is that I can’t even begin to understand what it was like for most blacks, which was excruciatingly difficult, something that I didn‘t know anything about, and did not experience.

    I hope my story will make you understand why white people were extremely reluctant to change. Our history books never taught us anything good about blacks. I can’t remember ever learning anything positive that blacks did. What I did learn was that they were lazy, uneducated, dangerous, and drank a lot. Stay away from them, and if they bother you call the police! Life for most of the whites was paradise. There are things that I have forgotten, and some names were changed. I know there were serious injustices in South Africa, but I loved growing up there.

    Non-being

    non-white

    non-entity

    I think but am not

    but to think I am not

    is to be

    not what I can

    but what I must

    invisible

    unseen

    In shades of yellow, brown, and black

    that fade in the white glare

    of the being one

    Muthal Naidoo

    What was Apartheid?

    Apartheid was a system of legal racial separation which dominated the Republic of South Africa from 1948 until 1993. Apartheid is an Afrikaans

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