Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts (24 May 1870 - 11 Sept 1950), was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 to 1924 and 1939 to 1948. Smuts was born to Afrikaner parents on the farm Bovenplaats, two km north of Riebeek in the British Cape Colony. His birthplace is now an frequently visited museum.
Smuts was born and raised in a Dutch Reformed (Calvinist) Protestant Christian family. He enjoyed a great friendship with Chaim Weizmann, which lasted from their first meeting in 1917 until Smuts’ death in 1950.
Smuts and Weizmann had much in common, sharing a great interest in science, with Smuts becoming the first president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1931. Weizmann was a Zionist. Smuts, as a devoted Christian, held a firm belief in the right of the Jewish people to their homeland in Palestine.
Smuts was partial toward the Jews and Jewish problems globally, being sympathetic to Jewish immigration to South Africa as early as 1910. In 1917, as Minister of Defense, in which capacity he would become a member of the Imperial War Cabinet in Britain, he promised the South African Zionist Federation that he would support the movement for a Jewish Homeland in Palestine. Shortly after his appointment to the war cabinet, he met with, and developed his lasting friendship with Weizmann, and lent his not-insignificant support to the Balfour Declaration.
A kibbutz was named after Smuts in the 1930s. He had a special place in his heart for the farmer. He fought alongside them in the Boer War. Smuts frequently spoke out against growing anti-semitism. Smutz lived to see the establishment of the nation of Israel.
"When in doubt, do the courageous thing."
~ Smuts
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