Synopses & Reviews
The untold and heartbreaking account of the man who killed South Africa's architect of apartheid, one of the most dramatic political assassinations in modern history.
If ever one individual could be said to have embodied the tragedy of apartheid, Dimitri Tsafas would be that man. At a time when color was all, Tsafas, bastard son of a Greek father and an African mother, was untouchable -- too black for the whites and too white for the blacks. Stateless, homeless, and loveless, on September 6, 1966, he entered South Africa's Parliament and stabbed Prime Minister Hrik Verwoerd four times with a long knife, killing the architect of apartheid, the architect of Tsafas's misery.
Now, in a masterful restoration, Henk Van Woerden re-creates the assassin's cursed life and the impossibly torn society that created him. Unwanted by black or white family, denied the right to settle wherever he turns, Tsafas drifts from sea to prison, from kitchen hand to street vor, from Mozambique to Greece and Canada, and back to South Africa. With sensitivity and passion, Van Woerden traces the inexorable road that leads to Verwoerd's death, and reveals that the assassination -- a resounding blow in the war against apartheid -- was not the random act of a crazed individual, but perhaps the only choice left in a country itself gone mad. Powerful, tragic, and compelling, The Assassin is both a devastating indictment of oppression and a cautionary tale of the explosive power of racial hatred everywhere.
If ever one individual could be said to have embodied the tragedy of apartheid, Dimitri Tsafendas would be that man. At a time when color was all, Tsafendas, bastard son of a Greek father and African mother, was untouchabletoo black for the whites and too white for the blacks. Stateless, homeless, and loveless, on September 6, 1966, Tsafendas entered South Africa's parliament and stabbed Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd four times with a long knife, killing the architect of apartheid, the architect of his misery.
Now, forty years later, in a masterful restoration, Henk Van Woerden recreates the assassin's cursed life and the impossibly torn society that created him. Unwanted by black or white family, denied the right to settle wherever he turns, Tsafendas drifts from sea to prison, from kitchen hand to street vendor to blood donor, from Mozambique to Egypt, Greece, Canada, and back to the Transvaal. With sensitivity and passion, Van Woerden traces the inexorable road that leads to Verwoerd's killing, and reveals that the assassinationa resounding blow in the war against apartheidwas not the random act of a crazed individual, but perhaps the only choice left in country itself gone mad. The Assassin is both a devastating indictment of oppression and a cautionary tale of the explosive power of racial hatred everywhere.
"This life has enough interest to warrant a biography, but Van Woerden's book is in an entirely different class . . . he brings both the relentless gaze of the outsider and the understanding of the insider . . . he deftly and subtly draws an intricate picture that is both astute and sickening, moving and grotesque. This is a must-read."André Brink
"Brilliant . . . A wrenching work of eloquent humanity and understated rage."The New York Times Book Review
"This life has enough interest to warrant a biography, but Van Woerden's book is in an entirely different class . . . he brings both the relentless gaze of the outsider and the understanding of the insider . . . he deftly and subtly draws an intricate picture that is both astute and sickening, moving and grotesque. This is a must-read."André Brink
"Van Woerden has . . . has fetched Tsafendas out of the darkness and our ignominious silence so that we may be acquainted with the full humanity of his existence. Thank you."Breyten Breytenbach
"A quietly devastating work of reconstruction, giving back to the supposedly insane assassin a history of perpetual statelessness."The Observer (London)
"Thoroughly successful . . . suggesting in intriguing ways how a new history of South Africa might be written."J.M. Coetzee
"Powerful, tragic, and compelling. The Assassin is both a devastating indictment . . . and a cautionary tale of the explosive power of racial hatred everywhere."African Sun Times
"An excellent look into the human tragedy caused by a dehumanizing system of racial classification and differentiation."Booklist
Review
"Subtly and deftly draws an intricate picture . . . this is a must-read." (André Brink)
Review
"Brilliant . . . A wrenching work of eloquent humanity and understated rage."—
The New York Times Book Review"This life has enough interest to warrant a biography, but Van Woerden's book is in an entirely different class . . . he brings both the relentless gaze of the outsider and the understanding of the insider . . . he deftly and subtly draws an intricate picture that is both astute and sickening, moving and grotesque. This is a must-read."—André Brink
"[Van Woerden] persuades us that Tsafendas's mere existence constituted a kind of anti-apartheid, and that in the defining act of his life 'the power of madness had . . . shown itself equal to the madness of power.'"—The New Yorker
"Van Woerden has . . . has fetched Tsafendas out of the darkness and our ignominious silence so that we may be acquainted with the full humanity of his existence. Thank you."—Breyten Breytenbach
"A quietly devastating work of reconstruction, giving back to the supposedly insane assassin a history of perpetual statelessness."—The Observer (London)
"Thoroughly successful . . . suggesting in intriguing ways how a new history of South Africa might be written."—J.M. Coetzee
"Powerful, tragic, and compelling."—African Sun Times
"An excellent look into the human tragedy caused by a dehumanizing system of racial classification and differentiation."—Booklist
Synopsis
Dimitri Tsafendas embodied the tragedy of apartheid. The bastard son of a Greek father and an African mother, he killed Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid and his misery. Van Woerden recreates the assassin's cursed life and the society that created him in a country itself gone mad.
Synopsis
The untold and heartbreaking account of the man who killed South Africa's architect of apartheid, one of the most dramatic political assassinations in modern history.
If ever one individual could be said to have embodied the tragedy of apartheid, Dimitri Tsafas would be that man. At a time when color was all, Tsafas, bastard son of a Greek father and an African mother, was untouchable -- too black for the whites and too white for the blacks. Stateless, homeless, and loveless, on September 6, 1966, he entered South Africa's Parliament and stabbed Prime Minister Hrik Verwoerd four times with a long knife, killing the architect of apartheid, the architect of Tsafas's misery.
Now, in a masterful restoration, Henk Van Woerden re-creates the assassin's cursed life and the impossibly torn society that created him. Unwanted by black or white family, denied the right to settle wherever he turns, Tsafas drifts from sea to prison, from kitchen hand to street vor, from Mozambique to Greece and Canada, and back to South Africa. With sensitivity and passion, Van Woerden traces the inexorable road that leads to Verwoerd's death, and reveals that the assassination -- a resounding blow in the war against apartheid -- was not the random act of a crazed individual, but perhaps the only choice left in a country itself gone mad. Powerful, tragic, and compelling, The Assassin is both a devastating indictment of oppression and a cautionary tale of the explosive power of racial hatred everywhere.
Synopsis
On September 6, 1966, Dimitri Tsafendas entered South Africas parliament, gripping a wickedly long knife, and stabbed Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd four times in the chest. This chilling study of the life of Tsafendas—the homeless, stateless, and loveless illegitimate son of a Greek father and a black African mother—gives us acrystalline vision of the tragic consequences of apartheid.
About the Author
Henk Van Woerden, a prizewinning Dutch author, was born in the Netherlands in 1947. He moved to South Africa as a child, studied fine art at the University of Cape Town, and in 1968 returned to Amsterdam, where he lives today. The Assassin has been nominated for two major Dutch awards and translated into five languages.