The Enduring Shadow: Apartheid's Legacy on Education and Life in South Africa

Lessons from Germany's and Austria's Reckoning with the Holocaust

At the heart of Blue Chip Future Fund is a simple but powerful belief: every child deserves a future defined by opportunity, not limited by the circumstances of their birth. Yet for many talented children in South Africa’s underserved communities, the shadow of apartheid’s brutal legacy still blocks their path to success.

Though South Africa today stands as a democracy, the consequences of its past live on, in classrooms without books, in schools falling apart, and in young minds struggling to hold on to hope. These are the children we serve. This is why our mission is about far more than education, it is about restoring dignity, breaking cycles of disadvantage, and giving young people the tools to build the future they deserve.

As a multinational NGO with strong connections to Germany and Austria, we believe it is essential to understand the deep wounds apartheid left behind, and how they continue to shape the lives of the children we aim to uplift. Just as Germany and Austria have grappled with the horrors of the Holocaust—an event often compared to apartheid for its systematic oppression—South Africa is still confronting the deep scars of its own past. 

Apartheid was not just a set of laws; it was a system designed to crush human potential. Like the Holocaust, it was driven by a belief that people could be judged and confined by their appearance. While the Holocaust aimed to eliminate an entire people, apartheid sought to keep Black South Africans alive but forever poor, powerless, and subordinated. Education was one of the most powerful tools used to enforce this system. Under the infamous "Bantu Education" system, Black children were taught not to dream, but to accept lives of servitude. They were trained for roles as laborers and servants, not as doctors, engineers, or leaders. Instead of being equipped for the future, they were told they had no place in it. And while the walls of apartheid may have fallen, the effects of this broken system still remain.

Today, many children in townships and rural areas attend overcrowded schools, often without enough teachers, books, or even desks. They grow up in environments where opportunity feels distant and where hope is difficult to sustain. Blue Chip Future Fund works to change this reality, one scholarship, one student, one family at a time. 

Apartheid’s cruelty extended far beyond education. It shaped every part of life. Black families were forcibly removed from their homes and sent to barren "homelands"—places stripped of resources and opportunity. Imagine raising a child in a community where everything. from jobs to healthcare to education, was designed to keep them down. The comparison with the Holocaust in Germany and Austria is painful, but important. Both are histories of profound injustice and suffering. Yet, while the former have taken strong steps to confront their past, with public memorials, compulsory education about the Holocaust, and reparations for survivors, South Africa’s path has been different.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), established in the 1990s, allowed for truth-telling and, in many cases, forgiveness. But while many stories were shared and some perpetrators admitted their crimes, many survivors of apartheid are still waiting for justice, for reparations, and for meaningful change. Unlike Germany and Austria, which have compensated victims of the Holocaust, many South Africans affected by apartheid continue to live in poverty; a poverty created and entrenched by that system.

At Blue Chip Future Fund, we see the effects of this history every day. We see the bright eyes of children who, for the first time, realise they can become anything—doctors, engineers, artists, entrepreneurs. We meet parents who have sacrificed everything to give their children a chance they never had.

Our connection to Germany and Austria is more than a mere association. It’s an opportunity to share lessons about how nations can confront painful histories and use education as a force for healing. Germany’s and Austria’s commitment to remembrance and justice shows the importance of acknowledging the past to build a better future. When we invest in a child’s education, we are doing more than giving them access to knowledge. We are restoring what apartheid tried to take away; their belief in themselves, their sense of worth, and their right to dream.

As we reflect on these dark histories—the Holocaust and apartheid—we must not turn away. We must face them with courage, so we can stand even more firmly for the children of today. Every scholarship we grant, every school we support, is a step towards a South Africa where all children, regardless of their background, can thrive. And while fighting this battle for justice, let’s not forget that accounting for past mistakes and the path to redemption has been a steep and rocky road in Germany and Austria alike. Indeed, it is a process continuing to this day, and in the face of right-wing populist parties and ideas resurging across all of Europe, it is everyone’s duty to actively reflect past mistakes—to learn from them and each other, so as to break the cycle of violence and injustice once and for all.

As South Africa, Germany, and Austria confront the legacies of apartheid and the Holocaust, and as Blue Chip Future Fund works to address educational inequity, we must ask: What ongoing responsibility do individuals, institutions, and the global community share in not only acknowledging historical injustices but actively redressing them to create lasting equality and opportunity? At Blue Chip Future Fund, we believe that history should never be forgotten, but it must never define what is possible for the next generation. By learning from the past and investing in children, we choose to build a future of hope, opportunity, and dignity for all.