12 September 2012

Launch- 'Between life & death: stories from John Vorster Square'

Cover of John Vorster Square guide for educators

 

'Whenever you were there,

you knew you were between life and death'

-  Former detaineeTsanki Leagkotla -

 

To mark 15 years since John Vorster Square was renamed Johannesburg Central Police Station, SAHA launched a new publication and related exhibition:

BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH:

Stories from John Vorster Square

A guide for educators

Both the guide and the exhibition are based on the DVD of the same name, commissioned by SAHA and produced by Doxa Productions as part of the SAHA / Sunday Times Heritage Project in 2007.

A virtual walk through the police cells on the 10th floor of South Africa's most notorious police station where the security forces reigned in apartheid South Africa, the DVD features interviews with former detainees and security police, as well as photographs, press clippings, drawings and other archival materials, revealing the horrors of detention without trial.

The guide, developed by SAHA in conjunction with Shikaya, draws on the DVD to provide educators with sources and activities for the classroom to teach aspects of apartheid history in line with curriculum requirements.