num_pages: 208
description: A Human Being Died That Night recounts an extraordinary dialogue. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, a psychologist who grew up in a black South African township, reflects on her interviews with Eugene de Kock, the commanding officer of state-sanctioned death squads under apartheid. Gobodo-Madikizela met with de Kock in Pretoria's maximum-security prison, where he is serving a 212-year sentence for crimes against humanity. In profoundly arresting scenes, Gobodo-Madikizela conveys her struggle with contradictory internal impulses to hold him accountable and to forgive. Ultimately, as she allows us to witness de Kock's extraordinary awakening of conscience, she illuminates the ways in which the encounter compelled her to redefine the value of remorse and the limits of forgiveness.
language: English
title: A Human Being Died That Night: A South African Woman Confronts the Legacy of Apartheid
titlecomplete: A Human Being Died That Night: A South African Woman Confronts the Legacy of Apartheid
genres: South Africa, Biography, Social Justice, African Literature, History, Race, Africa, Psychology, Nonfiction, Memoir
ratings_count: 1103
places: South Africa
awards: awardedAt: 1072944000000
name: Alan Paton Award
publisher: Mariner Books