Die „Saga der Van Pletsens“

Chronik der Familie Van Pletsen von Helen Lewald, geb. van Pletsen*

[Aus der Originalsprache Afrikaans ins Deutsche übersetzt und kommentiert von ihrem Sohn, Roon Lewald]

Helen and Albrecht in their Berlin student years

Vorwort

Nachdem meine Mutter im Jahre 1974 in Pretoria die Chronik ihrer Familie handschriftlich verfasst hatte, wurde das von einem Vetter säuberlich getippte Manuskript von ihrer Verwandtschaft als einzig bekannte Ahnengeschichte dieser in Südafrika weit verzweigten, burischen Sippe mit großem Interesse begrüßt. Sozusagen im Samisdat-Verfahren ging die 9-seitige Chronik von Hand zu Hand und tauchte bald auch bei Stammesmitgliedern auf, von deren Existenz nicht einmal sie in ihren eifrigen Recherchen erfahren  hatte.

The Van Pletsen Saga

by Helen Lewald (nee Van Pletsen)

Translated by Blane van Pletzen-Rands 

 Klik hier vir Afrikaans 

Deutsch

Click here for extended Genealogy

PREFACE

by her son, Roon Lewald

When my mother completed her hand-written chronicle of her Van Pletsen ancestors in 1974, a typed manuscript produced by an admiring relative was photocopied many times and found its way to numerous members of her tribe throughout South Africa. As far as I am aware, the Afrikaans-language manuscript remains the only known history of the Van Pletsens (or Van Pletzens with a “z”), and graphically portrays a typically huge clan of Afrikaner (Boer) descendants of mingled Dutch, German and French Huguenot settlers.

I was nevertheless astounded when, during a random web session in 2008, I stumbled on a faithful copy of the “Van Pletsen Saga” in both the original Afrikaans AND an English translation in this very same blog. From Bonn in Germany, where I have lived since emigrating in 1971, I immediately contacted the responsible blogger in New York. I was delighted to find out that editor The Rev. Br. Blane van Pletzen-Rands BSG is indeed a remote relative as well as a fellow expatriate, with a similarly nostalgic attachment to the positive aspects of Afrikaner traditions and the expressive Afrikaans language with its fine literature. Like many Americans, post-colonial South Africans – especially those who have joined a swelling diaspora in Europe, both Americas and Australasia in recent years – are deeply interested in their ancestral origins. Since Blane came upon a copy of the Saga during a visit to relatives in South Africa, he has therefore made it a centrepiece of his blog. The many comments it has attracted show that it has become a watering hole for virtually migrating Van Pletsens and other South Africans.

Die Van Pletsen Saga

Click for English

Klik vir genealogie

Voorwoord

Deur haar seun, Roon Lewald

Toeval? Bestemming? Nee, net weer ‘n bewys dat die Internet alles weet. Nadat my moeder in 1974 haar handgeskrewe familiegeskiedenis voltooi en ‘n hulpvaardige neef dit mooi netjies vir haar oorgetik het, moes fotokopiëe daarvan soos die bybelse wonder van die visse en brode vermenigvuldig het. Want dit het gretige lesers orals in die Van Pletsen-wêreld gevind, siende dat dit blykbaar die enigste bekende kroniek van my oorlede ma se wydverbreide familie is.

Roon Lewald

Nogtans kon ek amper nie my oë glo toe ek in 2008, amper 30 jare na haar dood, toevallig in die Internet op hierdie einste Amerikaanse blog geland en heel bo ‘n sorgvuldige afkskrif van Ma se “Saga” – nogal in Afrikaans met ‘n Engelse vertaling! – ontdek het. Ek het die redaksie in New York dadelik vanaf my huidige woonplek in Bonn, Duitsland gebel en vasgestel dat redakteur Blane van Pletzen-Rands ‘n vérlangse neef en nes ek ‘n emigrant is. As sulks het hy gedurende ‘n besoek by familie in SA ‘n kopie van die manuskrip in die hande gekry. En dis hoekom my ma se Saga nou ‘n ereplek gevind het in ‘n blog wat gedeeltelik geskep is as ‘n virtuele kuierplek vir diegene wat belangstel in die Van Pletsens (oftewel Van Pletzens, soos sommige takke van die familie dit spel).  

Helen van Pletsen – the Nightingale of Natal

By Roon Lewald, son of Helen van Pletsen, author of “The Van Pletsen Saga”

In a personal twist to the old show-biz saying that “you haffta be Jewish”, my Afrikaner mother had a stock diagnosis of people she considered too humourless to appreciate the funny side of life. Irritated by an encounter with some particularly dour, self-righteous grudge-bearer, she would shrug and say: “His / her problem is a lack of irony in the blood.”