Tales of transitionIn this article the rationale o f this special issue is pro vid ed a n d the different contributions are introduced. The assumption is that there are strong similarities between the recent political a n d social transitions in South A frica and G erm any and the reactions, both emotional a n d literary, o f the people involved. Broadly, the transitions are described as a m ovement fro m external (or violent) to internal (or ideological) social control, though this must be m odified by the various constructions the contributors p u t on the transition. The main themes a n d questions o f the transitions are synthesized, highlighting the m arked similarities the different contributions reveal. The most important o f these are the relation to the past, problem s o f identity, projections o f the new a n d the internal contradictions o f nationalist discourse (which informs the process o f transition).In conclusion, the similarities a n d differences between the two transitions indicated by this special issue, are discussed. The assumption o f strong sim ilarities between the two seem s to hold, it is argued, but much more research into the m atter is needed.

This paper is an attempt to reconstruct the resonance of “Oom Gert vertel” at the time it was written. The story that Oom Gert tells is reread for its silences and unsaid things. Oom Gert’s reticence about his own story, his silence about the politics of the time and his partial view of the devastating effects of martial law are explored against the backdrop of Leipoldt's reports on the trials of Cape rebels in the treason court for the pro-Boer newspaper The South African News and of other reconstructions of the period. From this reading Oom Gert emerges as representing the complexities of the loyalty of Cape Afrikaners. It is postulated that the unsaid historical background, which would have resonated powerfully for Cape Afrikaners of that time, was written out of the poem so that it could fit better into the circumstances of its first publication. Appropriating the poem for Afrikaner nationalism is a misreading

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