Kruger, Paul

Partially printed letter in Dutch on ‘President’s Huis’ stationary, signed S.J.P. Kruger with the monetary value penned in the President’s own hand, 17 September 1985. In full (translated): ‘As regards Werner John, the Hon. Treasurer of the Kaiser Wilhelm Association.’
The letter is boldly penned by Kruger, letters signed by Kruger are of the greatest rarity, as opposed toroutine documents. This remains the only letter signed by Kruger on ‘President’s Huis’ stationary that we have seen. President Kruger is best remembered as a devoted defender of the Transvaal Republic at the time when British imperialism in Southern Africa was at its height. After the First Boer War in 1881, Kruger was elected President of the Republic in 1883 and re-elected in 1888, 1893, and 1898. It was during his final term in office that President Kruger signed this document, acknowledging a payment to the Honourable Treasurer of the Kaiser Willhelm Association. With the discovery of gold in 1886 many uitlanders (outlanders), streamed to the gold strike and threatened the separate national identity of the Afrikaners. This conflict led to the Anglo
Boer War which eventually broke out in October 1899. In May 1900, Kruger left Pretoria as British forces under Lord Roberts advanced on the Transvaal capital. He went to the Netherlands via
Mozambique, after a short stay in Utrecht, and then a villa in thetown of Hilversum, Casa Cara. Kruger then relocated to Menton, France, before moving to Clarens, Switzerland, where he died on 14 July 1904. Kruger’s’ efforts to stir up European support for the Boers proved unsuccessful