Daniel François Malan (redirected from DF Malan)

Malan, Daniel François 

Born May 22, 1874, in Riebeeck; died Feb. 7, 1959, in Stellenbosch. Statesman of the Union of South Africa. Afrikaner by nationality.

Malan was educated at universities in Stellenbosch (South Africa) and Utrecht (Holland). In 1915 he became the editor of the newspaper Die Burger, which subsequently became the official organ of the reactionary Nationalist Party. Along with other right-wing nationalists, he opposed in 1933 the merging of the strongest national bourgeois parties and headed the new, “purified” Nationalist Party. During World War II, he opposed participation by the Union of South Africa in a war against fascist Germany and in effect called for cooperation with Hitler. After the victory of the Nationalist Party in the elections of 1948, he headed the government (1948-54) that declared apartheid to be a state doctrine; the government persecuted all democratic elements within the country and supported forces of extreme reaction in the world arena.