Head and Curator of the Albany Museum’s History Department Gcobisa Zomelele located coverage by the local press of the end of World War 1.
Grocott’s Penny Mail on Monday 11 November 1918 carried the main headline: ‘Under the White Flag’ – with ‘The Fateful Hour’ – Foch and the Germans/ Two alternatives: surrender or defeat/ Disaster near at hand.
It took two or three days for news from Europe and England to make its way on to the pages of the local press. A bulletin datelined London, Nov. 8, read:
An afternoon wireless French official statement announces that the German plenipotentiaries have received the conditions of the armistice and have been given until 11 o’clock on Monday morning to accept or refuse them. Marshal Foch rejected a proposal for the provisional suspension of hostilities.
Other headlines on the 11 November edition were:
* The Kaiser Abdicates
* The Red Flag on Top – Revolution spreads/ Soviets in Berlin and Cologne/ Soldiers join in
A special ‘Supplement to EP Herald – latest news’ in the second edition dated November 11, 1918 and priced at one penny announced:
* Armistice signed
* Premier’s official announcement
* Flight of Kaiser
* Red troops control Essen
and
* Baron von Krupp arrested.
MEET THE CURATORS
Look out in a coming edition of Grocott’s Mail for an inspiring interview with two new curators at Makhanda museums – Gcobisa Zomelele and Zekhaya Gxotelwa.
