Maria Elizabeth Rothmann, penname M.E.R. (28 August 1875, in

Swellendam Swellendam is the fifth oldest town in South Africa (after Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Simon's Town, and Paarl), a town with 17,537 inhabitants situated in the Western Cape province. The town has over 50 provincial heritage sites, most of them ...

– 7 September 1975, in

Waaihoek Waaihoek is the name of a peak at one of the vertices of a very large (8000ha), remote, rugged and mountainous rural property called Zuurberg ("Sour Mountain"), located about 60 km north-east of Cape Town, on the margin of a great sandstone m ...

) was an

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

writer, and co-founder of the Voortrekkers youth movement. Her unique contribution to Afrikaans literature was an ethical didactic, cultural historic review of a bygone Afrikaans society.

Biography

She was born Maria Elizabeth Rothmann in

, in the then

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with t ...

. She was one of the first South African women to attend a university. She acquired a B.A.-degree at the

South African College The South African College was an educational institution in Cape Town, South Africa, which developed into the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the South African College Schools (SACS). History The process that would lead to the formation of t ...

(now

UCT The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university stat ...

) in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. At the age of 22 she started working as a teacher, first in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

, later in

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London. Makhanda is the largest town in the Makana ...

and eventually at

. On 18 September 1902, while in Grahamstown, she married Herbert Charles Gordon Oakshott, a school principal. From this marriage James Rothmann (later Jacobus or Koos) was born in 1903, and Anna in 1904. The couple reached a divorce on 4 July 1911. MER then kept her maidenname. Anna Rothmann was also a writer. M.E.R.'s writing career started in 1918 in the Lowveld. She became involved with journalism – first at ''Die Boerevrou'' (1920 to 1922) in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

, and afterwards at ''

Die Burger ''Die Burger'' (English: The Citizen) is a daily Afrikaans-language newspaper, published by Naspers. By 2008, it had a circulation of 91,665 in the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces of South Africa. Along with ''Beeld'' and ''Volksblad'', it is ...

'' (1922 to 1928) in Cape Town. She became the first woman editor of the latter. In 1928, she was appointed the organizing secretary of the A.C.V.V. She traveled the country in this capacity while investigating the question of poor whites. In 1929, she was a co-founder of the Voortrekkers youth movement and afterwards also vice-chairperson of the

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope ( af, Provinsie Kaap die Goeie Hoop), commonly referred to as the Cape Province ( af, Kaapprovinsie) and colloquially as The Cape ( af, Die Kaap), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequen ...

's National Party. She also served on the Carnegie Commission. In 1938, she was awarded a Carnegie grant which she used to visit the US. She received the

Hertzog Prize The Hertzog Prize (or Hertzogprys) is an annual award given to Afrikaans writers by the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (South African Academy for the Sciences and Art), formerly the South African Academy for Language, Literature a ...

in 1953 for her oeuvre of prose. In 1961, she received the Scheepersprys vir Jeugliteratuur for ''Die tweeling trek saam'' (The twins join the Trek). In 1970, she received the Tienie Holloway-medalje vir Kleuterliteratuur for ''Karlien en Kandas'' (Karlien and Kandas). She received two honorary doctorate degrees, one from the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

in 1951 and another from the

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA), known colloquially as Unisa, is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, U ...

in 1973; inter alia for her contributions to social work. She died ten days after her 100th birthday, at her home ''Kom nader'' (Come hither) in Swellendam.

Bibliography

Note: The English titles given here are translated from Afrikaans, and are not available as such. * ''Kinders van die Voortrek'' (Children of the Voortrek) – 1920Lantern – 20 1970 p98 "This brother, F.L. Rothmann, helped her with her great story of the Voortrekkers written for children, for he had done much research among people of Voortrekker stock in the Transvaal. She, therefore, gives the impression of having been an ..." * ''Die Sokka-boek: stories van 'n skaaphond'' (The Sokka book: stories of a sheep dog) – 1926 * ''Vanmelewe: stories van die voorouers'' (Times past: stories of the forebears) – 1926 * ''Onweershoogte en ander verhale'' (Stormy heights and other stories) – 1927 * ''Die kammalanders'' (Denizens of Kammaland) – 1928 * ''Die oorwinnaar: verhale van President Steyn'' (The victor: stories of President Steyn) collected by M.E.R. – 1929 * ''Jong dae: 'n meisies-storie'' (Young days: a girls story) – 1933 * ''Sokka se plaas'' (Sokka's farm) – 1933 * ''Na vaste gange'' (Towards firm corridors) – 1944 * ''Drie vertellings'' (Three narratives) – 1944 * ''Uit en tuis'' (Home and away) – 1946 * ''Stoute bengel: 'n verhaal uit die lewe'' (Wayward boy: a story from life) – 1947 * ''Die eindelose waagstuk'' (The endless wager) – 1948 * ''Die gewers'' (The givers) – 1950 * ''Goedgeluk'' (Fortuity) – 1958 * ''The drostdy at Swellendam'' (The Drostdy at Swellendam), with A. Rothmann—1960 * ''Die tweeling trek saam'' (The twins join the Trek) – 1960 * ''Kom nader; bloemlesing uit die werk van M.E.R.'' (Come hither; anthology from the work of M.E.R.) – 1965 * ''So is onse maniere'' (Thus are our customs) – 1965 * ''Vroue wat Jesus geken het'' (The women who knew Jesus) – 1965 * ''Karlien en Kandas'' (Karlien and Kandas) – 1969 * ''My beskeie deel; 'n outobiografiese vertelling'' (My humble share; an autobiographical narrative) – 1972 * ''Familiegesprek: briewe aan haar dogter'' (Family conversation: letters to her daughter) – 1976 * ''Van naby gesien: ’n keur uit die kortkuns van M.E.R.'' (Seen from nearby: a choice selection from the short stories of M.E.R.), compiled by

Elize Botha Anna Elizabeth Botha (; 6 May 1922 – 6 June 1997) was the First Lady of South Africa, as the wife of State President Pieter Willem Botha Pieter Willem Botha, (; 12 January 1916 – 31 October 2006), commonly known as P. W. and af, Di ...

) – 1976 * n Kosbare erfenis: briewe 1916–1975'' (A treasured inheritance: letters 1916–1975) compiled by Alba Bouwer, Anna Rothmann and Rykie van Reenen—1977 * ''M.E.R.-versebundel'' (M.E.R. poem volume), compiled by Carl Lohann, music by Awie van Wyk, illustrations by Ina Pfeiffer—1985 She translated the following works from Dutch to Afrikaans: * ''Tant Alie van Transvaal: die dagboek van Alie Badenhorst'' (Aunt Alie of Transvaal: the diary of Alie Badenhorst) – 1939 * ''Oorlogsdagboek van ’n Transvaalse burger te velde 1900 — 1901'' (War diary of a Transvaal citizen in the field 1900 — 1901), a candid diary of her brother Fritz Rothmann—1976

Sources

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rothmann, Maria Elizabeth 1875 births 1975 deaths People from Swellendam Afrikaner people South African centenarians South African people of German descent 20th-century South African novelists South African women novelists Afrikaans-language writers Hertzog Prize winners for prose 20th-century pseudonymous writers Pseudonymous women writers Women centenarians