Hendrik van den Bergh (police official)

Hendrik Johan van den Bergh
SSA
Born(1914-11-27)27 November 1914
Vredefort, Orange Free State, Union of South Africa
Died16 August 1997(1997-08-16) (aged 82)
Bronkhorstspruit, Pretoria, South Africa
Other names"Tall Hendrik" (Afrikaans: Lang Hendrik)
Known forFounding of Bureau of State Security (B.O.S.S.)
Police career
CountrySouth African Police
Allegiance South Africa
DepartmentSouth African Bureau of State Security
BranchIntelligence
Service yearsc. 1945 – 1980
RankGeneral/Director-General

General Hendrik Johan van den Bergh, SSA (27 November 1914 – 16 August 1997) was a South African police official most famous for founding the Bureau of State Security (B.O.S.S.), an intelligence agency created on 16 May 1969 to coordinate military and domestic intelligence for the government as well as to suppress political dissidents. He was known as "Tall Hendrik" (Afrikaans: Lang Hendrik) on account of his height (6 feet 5 inches (196 cm)).

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.