biography
| name: |
Verwoerd, Hendrik (Frensch)
|
pronunciation:
[fervoort]
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1901–66)
|
| biography:
| South African statesman and prime minister (1958–66), born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He studied at Stellenbosch, where he became professor of applied psychology (1927) and sociology (1933), and edited the nationalist Die Transvaler (1938–48). Elected senator in 1948, he became minister of native affairs (1950), and introduced most of the apartheid legislation with the support of the premier, Strijdom, whom he succeeded. His administration was marked by further development and ruthless application of the highly controversial apartheid policy, an attempt on his life (1960), and the establishment of South Africa as a republic (1961). He was assassinated in Cape Town. |
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