Description
Second Boer War (1899-1902) mail: 13 DEC 1900 stampless plain envelope endorsed "No Stamps Available / from Prisoner of War" in PORT ELIZABETH to addressee in HUMANSDORP in "CC" (Cape Colony), opened and sealed by censor using horizontal black on pink V. Arms R. /Opened Under Martial Law label - tied by local postmark on back; backstamped DE 15 1900 arrival. Slit open at bottom, with 2 filing holes & reverse imprint of Port Elizabeth postmark on front. Port Elizabeth is considered the 'first' British concentration camp in that it was the first to be formerly established rather than one which developed through improvisation; it was always run by the military and never passed into the hands of the civilian administration; estimated to have been established in December 1900 making this an early cover from the camp; most of the inmates (32 men, 86 women & 200 children) came from Jagersfontein and Fauresmith in the Orange Free State and had been rounded up because the military suspected that they had been aiding the Boer enemy. It's unclear if the addressee Mr. A. Katz was Jewish: there was a Jewish presence in Humansdorp by 1899, drawn to the locale by the ostrich feather industry; the local Hebrew Congregation was established in 1901, and there were 47 Jewish residents by 1904.
