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Featured Event 2021 Death

November 11

De Klerk Dies: The President Who Ended Apartheid

F. W. de Klerk announced in February 1990 that Nelson Mandela would be freed and the ANC unbanned. He was the last apartheid-era State President of South Africa. He hadn't been expected to do it — his party had elected him as a conservative. He chose to end the system instead. He and Mandela shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. He died in 2021 at 85, still debating with historians about whether his motives were moral or pragmatic.

November 11, 2021

5 years ago

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