Benno Marx was a Moravian missionary at Genadendal [IC]. In 1859 he founded De Bode van Genadendal, a monthly paper printed on the mission’s press [IC]. De Bode was written in the plain Dutch spoken at Genadendal, and it came out 17 years before Die Afrikaanse Patriot (1876), the paper often called the first in Afrikaans [IC]. Marx is called the father of the Genadendal printing works [MS].
What the letters in square brackets mean
Facts on this page are followed by a tag that shows where they come from.
- [IC] Independently Corroborated. Confirmed by at least two sources that do not depend on each other, or by an official record.
- [MS] Mission-Sourced. Comes from Moravian records and the histories written from them. These often agree with each other because they share an origin.
- [TBV] To Be Verified. Seems likely, but nobody has confirmed it yet.
At a glance
| Born | 1827 [TBV] |
| Died | 1917 [TBV] |
| Known for | Founding De Bode van Genadendal in 1859, and building up the mission press [IC] |
| Link to the valley | He made Genadendal a place where the valley’s own speech was printed and read |
The printing press
Genadendal had one of the first printing presses in the colony [IC]. Sources differ on when it arrived: 1834 or 1837 [IC]. It was a simple wooden press of the Gutenberg type, and it is now in the Genadendal Mission Museum [IC]. A more advanced Albion press followed in 1861 [TBV].
Marx wanted the press to print books, pamphlets, and papers through which the people of the mission could speak to each other [MS]. Under him it became a printing works that served the mission stations for generations [MS]. It closed in 2003, after more than 170 years [MS].
De Bode van Genadendal
De Bode (“The Messenger”) first appeared in 1859 [IC]. It was one of the first five church papers in South Africa [MS]. It carried articles on faith, the histories of the mission stations, life stories of members, poems, and letters from readers, who often wrote under pen names [MS]. Its language was a simple Dutch, close to how people at Genadendal spoke [IC].
The last issue of De Bode appeared in March 1914. From April 1914 it was followed by Die Huisvriend [IC].
Historians use De Bode in the debate about where written Afrikaans came from. Its Genadendal Dutch had drawn away from formal Dutch long before the white Afrikaans language movement of the 1870s [IC]. Some historians argue that this shows how much written Afrikaans owes to coloured communities such as Genadendal [IC].
Marx also wrote Benigna, a story that some consider the first novel in Afrikaans [TBV].
His legacy in the valley
- The museum keeps the press and a record of what it printed [MS].
- De Bode is one reason Genadendal holds a place in the history of Afrikaans.
Links to other figures
- Hans Peter Hallbeck led the mission in the years before Marx, when the press arrived.
What is still open
- Where Marx was born, when he came to Genadendal, and when he left.
- Whether Benigna is the same work as Benigna van Groenekloof, and when it was printed.
- When the first press arrived: 1834 or 1837.
- Who wrote for De Bode from the valley, and whether copies survive in families.
Related
References
- LitNet. Genadendal: ‘n erfenisjuweel. His dates, his role as father of the printing works, De Bode from 1859 to 1914, Die Huisvriend, and the presses of 1834 and 1861.
- Maroela Media. Sending en taal: Die storie van Genadendal-Afrikaans. Marx as publisher of De Bode and writer of Benigna, and the Gutenberg-type press.
- South African History Online. Afrikaans: the Language of Black and Coloured Dissent. De Bode, Die Huisvriend, and Genadendal Dutch in the history of Afrikaans.
- Genadendal.info. The Genadendal Mission Station. The press of 1837 and the closure of the printing works in 2003.
- Afrikanergeskiedenis. Pionierswerk op Genadendal. The press of 1834 and printing from 1859.