This is an immense and immaculate Gedenktuin now behind locked gates with a high perimeter fence. It contains memorials from multiple periods and also those of a variety of nationalist occasions such as the 1938 Great Trek (aka Second Trek) reenactment, dedication of the Voortrekker monument in Pretoria, celebration of the 1948 National Party election victory, and others more recent. Its ceremonial use is apparent in its layout. Serried ranks of symbolic graves with numbers of names on each of them take the eye and dominate. There are enclosed inner areas with gravestones, and also symbolic forms that hold the actual remains of the dead. There is the massive presence of a monument featuring ‘the names of the dead’ from this camp.
View Irene gallery here
