Johannes Frederik Janse Van Rensburg (known as Hans) (24 September 1898 – 25 September 1966) was a South African lawyer, and leader of the Ossewabrandwag.

He was born in Winburg and died in Cape Town, a descendant of the Loyalist Johannes Frederik Janse Van Rensburg. He received his MA in German from the University of Stellenbosch, and his bachelor's and doctorates in law from University of Pretoria.^[1]

Van Rensburg qualified as a solicitor and was hired as the personal secretary of Tielman Roos, the Minister of Justice. In 1933, he became Secretary of Justice (under Smuts as Minister). As Secretary, he traveled overseas. In Germany, he met Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring, and other top Nazi officials. He was greatly impressed by Hitler's leadership and the discipline he observed in Germany.

In 1938, he helped organize the Ossewabrandwag as a vehicle for Afrikaner nationalism though often at odds with the National Party, the main driver of Afrikaner Nationalism. Van Rensburg was the commander general of the Ossewabrandwag from 1941 until 1952. Like most members of the Ossewabrandwag, he was regarded as a German sympathizer during the Second World War. There was evidence that he'd been complicit in espionage operations by the Germans, and a treason case was built against him. However, after the war, President Jan Smuts declined to follow through on the case out of fear of turning Van Rensburg into a martyr.^[2]

Van Rensburg died on 25 September 1966 in Cape Town, and was buried with military honors.

References

Further reading

• Rees, Philip (1990). Biographical dictionary of the extreme right since 1890. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-13-089301-3.
• Furlong, Patrick J. (1991). Between Crown and Swastika: The Impact of the Radical Right on the Afrikaner Nationalist Movement in the Fascist Era. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press. ISBN 9781868141968.