#Human being died that night free pdf full#
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Here is a final passage, in which Gobodo-Madikizela explains her motivations for seeking de Kock out, as well as the common reactions of others who found out about her project.Ĭasting my professional interest in de Kock in terms of romantic motive (“in love with him”) or as something mysterious (“She’s so fascinated by him!”) makes it too easy for my listeners to distance themselves from the reality of interacting with the man. I hope that I’ve convinced you to pick this up. I very rarely resent returning books to the library, but A Human Being Died that Night is one of those books: I wanted to be able to put it on my own shelves, to reread whenever I wish.

#Human being died that night free pdf full#

And so much of her writing had a powerful effect on me, I ended up typing out two full pages so that I could reread one story as much as I desire. I would also often reread a story three or four times, making sure I really felt it, following the example of empathy she creates. I would often hold my breath while reading, I was so caught up with Gobodo-Madikizela and the experiences that she was conveying. This is a book that I think everyone should read: it’s as much about what it means to be human as it is about South Africa’s tragedy. I find myself just wanting to share another long quote from Gobodo-Madikizela herself, since she put it all so well. It’s difficult for me to explain what this book did for me every time I try, it never quite comes out right. And I think that’s due to Gobodo-Madikizela’s focus on people, who survive, who repent, who have the potential for change. The thing is, while this is a book about an evil regime, and the evil things people did in its name, and the evil things people suffered in its name, it is never hopeless. It is extreme good fortune that we will never face this test.” There is wisdom and insight in what Pulitzer Prize-winner Tina Rosenberg says, that we “who interview and write and judge, we are clear-eyed about the system’s evil. But could he have? Did he have the conviction to oppose the system he served? Did he have any of the unique resources that only the morally courageous-the few who have the courage to follow their conscience-possess in totalitarian societies? That one is not confronted with the choices de Kock could have or could not have made, that one was not a member of the privileged class in apartheid South Africa are matters of sheer grace. Should he have resisted such forces as apartheid’s legalization of violence and the silent support by a society that benefited from the violence? Of course he should have. The following passage struck me deeply:ĭe Kock’s given role, for example, as apartheid’s crusader indicates right away that he had a future of violence carved out for him by national leaders. I think what makes this book so powerful, other than the sheer perfection of Gobodo-Madikizela’s writing, is that she humanises de Kock, and looks at the societal context, without ever dismissing his crimes. The embodiment of evil stood there politely smiling at me. De Kock had not just given apartheid’s murderous evil a name. At the same time, my mind registered “Prime Evil,” the name that marked him as the surest evidence of all that had happened under apartheid. Here is the moment when Gobodo-Madikizela, and thus the reader, meets de Kock for the first time:Īs he smiled shyly, perhaps politely, rising to greet me, I saw a flicker of boyishness, of uncertainty. Gobodo-Madikizela’s writing is incredible she brings the reader right where she is, fills him with her emotions, and then proceeds to intellectual analyses.

She found a man who had real regret for his past, and this touched her. Gobodo-Madikizela visited prison to conduct extensive talks with de Kock, and from the book it’s apparent that she went with the intention of trying to understand what makes people do evil deeds. de Kock has been sentenced to over two hundred years in prison, and so in lieu of a pardon from the government (that he expects but that has yet to arrive), he will spend the rest of life locked up. While this book includes stories of victims that she heard, as well as in her own past, it’s centered around her interviews with Eugene de Kock, an Afrikaaner counter-insurgency commander during apartheid who came to represent all of the violence of the regime. Gobodo-Madikizela is South African, with a background in psychology, and after the end of apartheid, she participated in the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC) set up to try to help society come to terms with its past. Apparently, this is going to be a week for me to gush about nonfiction! A Human Being Died that Night by Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela is a slim book, but no less powerful for it.