Coins of South Africa 1 Rand Silver Coin 1967 Hendrik Verwoerd
Commemorative issue: 1st Anniversary - Death of Dr. Verwoerd, 7th Prime Minister of South Africa
Obverse: Bust of H. F. Verwoerd facing right with legend in Afrikaans to right.
Lettering: SUID-AFRIKA 1967 T.S.
Engraver: Tommy Sasseen.
Reverse: Springbok right, value below.
Lettering: SOLI DEO GLORIA J.v Z. 1 RAND.
Engraver: Jan van Zyl.
Edge: Reeded.
Metal: Silver (.800).
Weight: 15 g.
Diameter: 32.6 mm.
Thickness: 2.2 mm.
Shape: Round.
Hendrik Verwoerd
Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (8 September 1901 – 6 September 1966), also known as Dr H.F Verwoerd, was a South African applied psychology and sociology professor; Afrikaans newspaper editor-in-chief and Prime Minister of South Africa. He is regarded as the mastermind behind socially engineering and implementing the racist policies of apartheid, the system of legal racial classification and forced racial segregation that existed in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. The aim of apartheid was to uphold Afrikaner white domination and the exploitation of black cheap labour in South Africa. Apartheid was rigidly enforced by means of oppressive laws as well as aggressive security services such as security police and army. Verwoerd was an authoritarian leader and right-wing Afrikaner Nationalist. He was a strong advocate of Afrikanerdom, which was the strong nationalistic pride in the Afrikaner volk language, culture, religion and history. He believed that Afrikaner white control over South Africa could only continue if the races lived apart in a form of divide and rule concept. He survived an assassination attempt in 1960, but was eventually assassinated in 1966.
Prior to entering politics, Verwoerd was regarded as a brilliant social science scholar at Stellenbosch University. He obtained his Bachelor's degree with distinctions majoring in psychology, sociology and philosophy. He continued his studies at the same university, completing his Master's and Doctorate in philosophy cum laude. As a result of his academic excellence he received a post-doctoral scholarship from the University of Oxford, but turned it down to further his studies in psychology and sociology at various German universities. Upon his return to South Africa, a graduate in psychology and philosophy, he was appointed as a professor of Applied Psychology at Stellenbosch University at the age of 26. He was then later appointed as head of the Sociology department in 1933.
Verwoerd was Prime Minister during the establishment of the Republic of South Africa in 1961, thereby fulfilling the Afrikaner dream of an independent republic for South Africans. During his tenure as Prime Minister, anti-apartheid movements such as the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) were banned, and the Rivonia Trial, which prosecuted ANC leaders, was held.
Many major roads, places and facilities in cities and towns of South Africa were named after Verwoerd; in post-apartheid South Africa, most of these references to the creator of apartheid have been renamed. Famous examples include H. F. Verwoerd Airport in Port Elizabeth, renamed Port Elizabeth Airport, the Verwoerd Dam in the Free State, now the Gariep Dam, H. F. Verwoerd Academic Hospital in Pretoria, now Steve Biko Hospital, and the town of Verwoerdburg, now Centurion.