{"id":11737,"date":"2025-07-02T11:13:30","date_gmt":"2025-07-02T09:13:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/?p=11737"},"modified":"2025-07-02T11:20:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T09:20:25","slug":"j-hidde-nijland-1853-1931-and-the-prisoner-of-war-collection-at-ditsong-national-museum-of-cultural-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/j-hidde-nijland-1853-1931-and-the-prisoner-of-war-collection-at-ditsong-national-museum-of-cultural-history\/","title":{"rendered":"J. HIDDE NIJLAND (1853 \u2013 1931) AND THE PRISONER-OF- WAR COLLECTION AT DITSONG: NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CULTURAL HISTORY"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]By: Jan van den Bos: Curator, DITSONG: National Museum of Cultural History<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

J. Hidde Nijland, one of the founding figures of the Zuid-Afrikaansche (South Arican) Museum in Dordrecht, the Netherlands, played a significant role in acquiring objects on behalf of South Africa for the International Exhibition held in Paris, France in 1900. Following the exhibition, these objects were transferred to the museum in Dordrecht, which opened its doors in July 1902.<\/p>\n

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Figure 1: Portrait of J. Hidde Nijland by artist Jan Toorop, with the Dordrecht Museum depicted in the background.
(Source: Hidde Nijland – Regionaal Archief Dordrecht)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The international exhibition in Paris<\/strong><\/p>\n

The official section of the ZAR (South African Republic) at the 1900 International Exhibition in Paris featured various objects, including specimens of South African flora, different types of wood, reptile skins, mammal furs and animal products such as whips.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Also showcased were indigenous grass baskets and artefacts created by indigenous people, maps of the Republic, books, photographs of school buildings and a handcraft collection assembled by school children. Together these items projected an image of South Africa as a leading and prominent country.  <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hidde Nijland\u2019s involvement  <\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/u><\/p>\n

Hidde Nijland contributed to the success of the International Exhibition. He personally appealed to prisoners-of war (POW) held on the islands of St Helena and Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka) to donate handcrafted items for the future South African Museum in Dordrecht. The number soon exceeded more than 2 000 objects.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In 1901 during a visit by the Prince and Princess of Wales to the Diyatalawa Camp in Ceylon, the media reported on crates of prisoner handcrafts, carefully packed and set aside \u2013 awaiting transport to the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The South African Museum in Dordrecht was housed in a two-story building. Most of the objects on display came from the International Exhibition in Paris. The prisoner-of-war handcraft displayed in Hall Two on the ground floor of the Museum captured the imagination of visitors. The engraved initials and last names on each object revealed hardship, hope and expectation.<\/p>\n

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Figure 2: J. Hidde Nijland requested that inmates provide detailed information about each handcrafted item they donated to the Dordrecht Museum.
(Source: HG 5169, POW-collection, DNMCH)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Prisoner-of-War donations to the State Museum (Pretoria) after the Anglo-Boer War<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/u><\/p>\n

In 1904, Dr J.W.B. Gunning, Director of the State Museum in Pretoria, appealed to the public for donations of handcraft produced in the various prisoner-of-war camps. As a result, the collection grew to become the second largest state collection of POW handcraft objects in the country.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The collection features a wide range of items. Smaller objects such as brooches, necklaces, napkin rings, letter openers \u2013 crafted from materials such as wood, bone, stone, metal and ivory \u2013 originating from St Helena, Ceylon, Bermuda and India. Larger objects include wooden card and jewelry boxes and musical instruments like violins.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Figure 3: A napkin ring donated in response to Dr Gunning\u2019s public appeal for POW handcrafts.
(Source: HG5963-6, POW-collection, DNMCH)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1920, the Dordrecht collection \u2013 comprising five containers \u2013 was returned to South Africa aboard the SS Nieuwe Maas<\/em>. The contents of one container included a selection of prisoner-of-war handcraft, preserving a tangible link to this unique chapter in South Africa\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sources<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brink, S., De Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek se deelname aan die Internasionale tentoonstelling in 1900 in Parys, Frankryk in<\/u> Research by the National Cultural History Museum<\/em>, 3(4), 1992.<\/p>\n

Heunis, V., Krygsgevangenekuns in die Anglo-Boereoorlog<\/em>, Protea Boekhuis, Pretoria, 2022.<\/p>\n

Https:\/\/www.regionaalarchiefdordrecht.nl\/dordts-biografisch-woordenboek\/hidde-nijland\/<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]By: Jan van den Bos: Curator, DITSONG: National Museum of Cultural History   J. Hidde Nijland, one of the founding figures of the Zuid-Afrikaansche (South Arican) Museum in Dordrecht, the Netherlands, played a significant role in acquiring objects on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":11742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"table_tags":[],"class_list":["post-11737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-23 10:44:53","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11737"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11746,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11737\/revisions\/11746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11737"},{"taxonomy":"table_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ditsong.org.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/table_tags?post=11737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}