Anemari Jansen

Story of leader of Apartheid death squad from early 1980's to mid 1990's. Terrifying story of what happens when people loyal to the regime are encouraged to do terrifying things in order to "defend the state". Very, very disturbing book that proves once again that almost everyone under right conditions - when encouraged and approved (promoted etc) by their superiors for their actions - is capable of terrifying atrocities (as it is shown in numerous cases in WW2).

Book should be treated as warning on what happens when civil services (police) get [fully] militarized and their members get "blunted" to various atrocities that are not to be found in police working environments but fields of battle - this is something very very current for our times too.

Highly recommended for all interested in history and covert operations.… (lisätietoja)

A mistake. This book. Interesting topic, interesting idea (visit Eugene, the epitome of evil during Apartheid, for two years, virtually every weekend in Pretoria Central prison, reconstruct his view on his actions and see whether he has repented). Bad execution. Already a book has been written containing Eugene ‘fok fok’ de Kock’s perspective. I just haven’t read it yet.

The problem with this book seems to be Anemari Jansen herself: (1) she is an Afrikaner woman who does not seem to know how to understand/perceive black South Africans and therefore (?) leaves out their perspective completely. This is on the one hand understandable if you have been raised in white apartheid suburbia, but considering the topic of the book, it is unforgivable; (2) she has way too much sympathy from the word go for the bespectacled soft spoken man that Eugene has become, again probably understandable, but unforgivable considering the topic of the book; (3) she does not seem to understand soldiering, nor comradely bush behaviour and the associated masculinity, which results in her focusing on the paraphernalia rather than the real thing; (4) She tries to make up for the resulting sterile tone by inserting excerpts from expert reports made up by psychiatrists and she associates herself more and more with male friends of Eugene with a similar background, which draws her further and further into the abyss of a one sided, white story eliciting sympathy for a repenting old gentleman. I find it typical and disappointing that Anemari never quite seems able to get out of her comfort zone by delving deeper into the misery inflicted on Eugene’s victims and their surviving family members. Also there is no soul searching on the formative period of her own life, no single attempt to reflect on what it meant to be a privileged white Afrikaner. It comes close to the kind of ‘Ich habe es nicht gewusst’ lame apologies of ordinary Germans after ww2. Scratching on the surface, never quite critical enough on the apartheid coloured world inhabited by communist terrs, hardly ever reflective of Afrikanerdom and how its core values and domestic practices give rise to a perspective on life that can breed evil (as in the case of Eugene) but also complacent conservative and decent life styles that lack only in one aspect – black never quite gets taken seriously and somehow it gets blotted out, painted over, etc. Thus Anemari can write about a ‘border war’ without quite delving into where the border is or what these terrs were fighting for. Of course there is an interesting part to this book as well. That is mostly about the corruption within SA’s various white security organs, whether it was SADF, Koevoet or Vlakplaas – that is a constant – wherever white men engage in shady operations they cheat the tax payer and fellow white officers out of money. Once you do shady things most individuals go the extra mile and engage in any form of illicit behaviour – so far for the superior white race protecting Africa from corruption, nepotism and patronage. Turns out it has nothing to do with race… Would have been nice if Anemari could have reflected a bit more on that in her conversations with Eugene and some of his friends.… (lisätietoja)