Hilda Bernstein

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Hilda Bernstein (born May 15, 1915 in London , † September 8, 2006 in Cape Town ; born Hilda Watts ) was a British - South African author , politician , human rights activist and suffragette .

Life

Hilda Watts was born in London to Simeon and Dora Schwarz. Her father was a Bolshevik and did not return from the Soviet Union in 1925 . In 1932 she emigrated with her mother to South Africa, where she was initially involved in the youth organization of the South African Labor Party . In 1940 she became a member of the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA, later SACP). In March 1941 she married the South African politician Lionel Bernstein . Together with him she played an important role in the fight for the end of apartheid in South Africa.

In 1943 she became a member of the Johannesburg City Council . In the 1950s she focused her commitment on women's rights in South Africa and was a co-founder of the Federation of South African Women. When her husband was indicted in the Rivonia Trial in 1964 , political pressure from the South African government forced them to flee to Botswana . In the following years she wrote several books against apartheid and lived long with her husband in the UK, where she worked for the ANC. The book The World that Was Ours describes her escape from South Africa. In 1994 she returned to South Africa with her husband when Nelson Mandela was elected President. She died in Cape Town at the age of 91 .

Works (selection)

  • The World that was Ours. Persephone Books , 1967; Reprint 2009, ISBN 978-1-906462-09-3 .
    • dt. The men of Rivonia: South Africa in the mirror of a trial. Volk & Welt, Berlin 1970.
  • The Terrorism of Torture.
  • For Their Triumphs and For Their Tears: Women in Apartheid South Africa. Africa Fund, 1985, ISBN 0-904759-58-X .
  • Steve Biko. Victor Kamkin, 1978, ISBN 0-904759-21-0 .
  • No. 46: Steve Biko. Victor Kamkin, 1978, ISBN 0-317-36653-X .
  • Death is part of the process. Sinclair Browne, ISBN 0-86300-028-2 .
  • The Rift: The Exile Experience of South Africans.
  • A World of One's Own. New edition under separation. Corvo Books, ISBN 0-9543255-2-4 .
  • The Trials of Nelson Mandela.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Obituary in The Independent , accessed February 23, 2013
  2. ↑ a b c Obituary in The Guardian, September 18, 2006, accessed February 23, 2013.
  3. ↑ Portrait at sahistory.org.za (English), accessed on April 12, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Amber, Hilda
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hilda Watts (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British-South African author and politician
DATE OF BIRTH May 15, 1915
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH September 8, 2006
Place of death Cape Town