At the moment I live in Köln (Colonia, Cologne, Keulen), the city famous for its majestic Kölner Dom, its Kölsch (beer) and its Eau de Cologne (4711) or as the old Afrikaners called it ‘olie kolonie’, but I come from South Africa; Northern Natal South Africa, where there is actually quite a link with Germany. German settlements in Northern Natal, which I have visited, include the tiny Luneburg, Hermannsburg, Wartburg, Ratschitz Mission

near Wasbank and the German Church at Elandskraal near Rorke’s Drift. I remember the permanent impact from the late 70’s which the German Church bazaar in October (it now makes sense) at Elandskraal made on me, complete with Oompah band, free-flowing beer and many different ‘würstchen’, smoked biltong, cold meats and maybe even a few ‘leder hösen’ doing the rounds. Most of these settlements were established as missionaries.

This post however needs to start many years before my ‘junge’ days in Natal and first exposure to the interesting German ways and culture. It starts with my great great great grandfather, Johan Carel Wilhelm Hörschelmann (who quickly became Herselman in South Africa) in far away Thuringia’s city Eisenach. It is here, where he was born and where he was baptised on 9 March 1760 in the ‘Evangelisch-Lutherische’ church. Outside Eisenach is Hörschel, the Hörschel river and Hörschel mountain where he originally comes from and where my surname comes from. These old guys weren’t too clever with spelling and some of the more stupid ones spelled their surname as Herschelmann or Hesselman.

Germany was a difficult place to live in those years. With two centuries of bloody battle between the religious factions in Europe and Germany in the middle of all the conflict. The outlook of religious freedom, exemption from military service and even a better tax regime elsewhere were all reasons why many Europeans emigrated to the new world of America, Australia and South Africa. It was the same with Oupa Johan Carel Wilhelm. He was most probably tired of only being able to see ‘fußball’ and no rugby, (remember this was before satellite television) so he made a plan and joined the Dutch East India Company and arrived in Cape Town.

Stepping off the ship and taking his time at the Paulaner Brauhaus for a beer before discovering the delicious the peri-peri prawns at Quay 34 in the VA Waterfront in 1785, he then started his career as a soldier. He obtained his ‘burgerregte’ (citizen rights) in 1791 and became a farmer in the Swellendam district. On Christmas day 1796 he wed Catharina Sophia Schoenmaker and in 1799, on 21 April, he married Maria Elisabeth Rheeder. I’m not sure what happened to Ouma Catharina Sophia. It seems Oupa hanged around Swellendam until 1816 before the wanderlust took him up the Langkloof to the farm Misgunt (33°52’21,96”S and 24°05’47,76”E) in the Walletjies area.

 

Most of the property around here is still owned by people with the surname Herselman today. And the South African Herselmans spread from this, some to Northern Natal and later back to Germany, settling for the time being in Köln.

Eisenach in the Thuringia is not only famous for giving the Herselmans to South Africa, it is also the location of Wartburg Castle and thus it is somehow fittingly that I grew up in Natal knowing the Wartburg near Greytown in Natal. Wartburg near Eisenach is a stunning stunning castle outside the town built as far back as 1067 on a hill with magnificent views over the surrounding countryside. It is here, in the Wartburg castle where Martin Luther spent time in 1521 in hiding, ironically from the church and emperor who outlawed him after he wrote his 95 theses. In a small room he stayed, writing and he translated the New Testament into German in just 10 weeks. It was also in this small room where he supposedly threw the devil with his inkwell in confrontation.

It was also here, at Wartburg castle where a language professor from Dresden heard us speak Afrikaans to each other, was so intrigued that he came over and asked ‘welche sprache spricht wir?’ (What language we speak?) and was even more intrigued about Afrikaans as language. He was so happy to finally hear the language, as previously he’s only heard of it and I was particularly happy to be able to share it with someone interesting, and behind from the old iron curtain, nogal.

Thus, my heritage from my father’s side contains a strong direct link with Germany and I am actually very happy that he had such a serious wonderlust, as I pick up from internet research that many of the Hörschelmanns only ventured as far as Estonia. Imagine that, I could just as easily have been born there. Thanx Oups, otherwise I never would have ‘missed the rains down in Africa’.

(Credit for a lot of the research of this article must go to FA Herselman of Garsfontein and the guys at http://www.geni.com/people/Johan-Carel-Wilhelm-Herselman/6000000006413100434 )