Albert Kropf was a German missionary who served in the Berlin mission station, Bethel, in Xhosaland.[1] He served within the Protestant Berlin Mission Society for almost 60 years, from 1845 to 1910. Of the missionaries serving in the Berlin Mission Society, “Albert Kropf was one of the foremost figures in this impressive list,” though the society itself had very modest success.[2]
“The significance of Kropf’s life work lies in his contribution to the anthropological and linguistic discourse of the 19th century,” both for native Africans and Christian Europeans.[3] Kropf had large success as a translator and translated many Christian works, such as hymns and the entire Holy Scriptures, into Kafir, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Berlin in 1889 for his work. Kropf also wrote a Kafir-English Dictionary which was published in 1899, and a second edition was published in 1915 after his death.
[1] Pakendorf, G. “From Berlin to Bethel: Albert Kropf and the Berlin Mission in the Eastern Cape”, Missionalia 21:3 (November 1993), 229-235.
[2] Pakendorf, “From Berlin to Bethel”, pg. 231
[3] Pakendorf, “From Berlin to Bethel”, pg. 233
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