Hilda Bernstein
Encyclopedia
Hilda Bernstein was an author
, artist
, and an activist against apartheid and for women's rights
. She was born Hilda Schwarz in London
and emigrated to South Africa
at the age of 18 years and became active in politics
. She married fellow activist Lionel "Rusty" Bernstein
in March 1941, and together they played prominent roles in the struggle to end Apartheid in South Africa. After her husband was tried and acquitted in the Rivonia Trial
in 1964, government harassment forced them to flee to Botswana
, an ordeal described in her book The World that was Ours
, which was republished by Persephone Books
in 2009. They lived in Britain
for some years where she further established herself internationally as a speaker, writer, and artist. She returned with her husband to South Africa in 1994 for the South African election
in which fellow activist Nelson Mandela
was elected President
. She died at the age of 91 in Cape Town, South Africa.
to Russia
n immigrants Simeon and Dora Schwarz. When she was ten her father, who was a lifelong Bolshevik and had been the Russian Trade Attaché to Britain, was recalled to the Soviet Union
. He was not able to return to Britain, and after his death she quit school to work before emigrating to South Africa
at the age of 18 to work in journalism
.
in Europe, she became involved with the Labour Party
. This party, however, did not share her growing concern with apartheid and she left it to join the South African Communist Party
, the only South African party with no racial segregation. She demonstrated her speaking and organizing skills on the party's district committee and national executive committee.
Through her political activities she met Lionel "Rusty" Bernstein
, whom she married in March 1941.
In 1943 she was elected to the city council of Johannesburg
by a then all-white electorate, the only member of the Communist Party to do so. She used this position for three years as a platform for publicizing the injustices of apartheid.
In the 1950s she became more focused on organizing with women. She was a founding member of the multi-racial Federation of South African Women in 1956, and she was one of the organizers of the Women's March to Pretoria . Her writings were appearing regularly in periodicals in South Africa and other nations in Africa and Europe.
As early as 1946 the South African government began its attempts to limit her activities and minimize her political influence. In that year she was convicted of assisting an illegal strike of black mineworkers. In 1953 the government banned her membership in a list of organizations, and in 1958 extended this ban to prohibit her from writing or publishing. In 1960 she was detained during the state of emergency declared after the Sharpeville massacre
. She was therefore required to go underground with her political work.
In 1963 her husband Rusty was one of 19 African National Congress
leaders arrested at Johannesburg suburb of Rivonia
. Rusty was acquitted at the Rivonia Trial
, but was soon rearrested and released on bail to house arrest. Hilda Bernstein fled from their home as the police were on the way to arrest her. They fled to Botswana
, crossing the border on foot.
where they continued to work in support of the African National Congress. She also dedicated her written and oral communication skills to the Anti-Apartheid Movement
and the British peace movement. Her writings and speaking engagements were numerous in Europe
, the United States
, and Canada
.
She wrote several books, including The World That was Ours which documented their flight from South Africa. She also dedicated more time to her art, which appeared in several shows and became part of many public and private collections. Her artwork has also been used in many publications for the Anti-Apartheid Movement.
which was the first democratic election where all races were allowed to vote, and see the end of apartheid and their fellow ANC member Nelson Mandela
become president
.
In 1998, both Rusty and Hilda were awarded honorary degrees from the University of Natal
for their role in helping to bring democracy to South Africa. Rusty died at their home in 2002.
In 2004 she was awarded the Luthuli Silver Award
for her "contribution to the attainment of gender equality and a free and democratic society" in South Africa. She died from heart failure at the age of 91 at her home in Cape Town, South Africa. She was survived by their four children: Toni, Patrick, Frances, and Keith Bernstein.
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
, and an activist against apartheid and for women's rights
Women's rights
Women's rights are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages in many societies.In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed...
. She was born Hilda Schwarz in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and emigrated to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
at the age of 18 years and became active in politics
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
. She married fellow activist Lionel "Rusty" Bernstein
Lionel Bernstein
Lionel "Rusty" Bernstein was a South African anti-apartheid activist and political prisoner.-Early life:Bernstein was born in Durban, the youngest of four children of Jewish émigrés from Europe. He was orphaned at eight years old, and brought up by relatives, after which he was sent to finish his...
in March 1941, and together they played prominent roles in the struggle to end Apartheid in South Africa. After her husband was tried and acquitted in the Rivonia Trial
Rivonia Trial
The Rivonia Trial was a trial that took place in South Africa between 1963 and 1964, in which ten leaders of the African National Congress were tried for 221 acts of sabotage designed to overthrow the apartheid system.-Origins:...
in 1964, government harassment forced them to flee to Botswana
Botswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are referred to as "Batswana" . Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966...
, an ordeal described in her book The World that was Ours
The World that was Ours
The World that was Ours is Hilda Bernstein's personal account of life in Johannesburg under the oppressive surveillance of the apartheid regime. Hilda and her husband Rusty Bernstein were both detained, along with many others, in the aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre of 1960...
, which was republished by Persephone Books
Persephone Books
Persephone Books is an independent publisher based in Bloomsbury, London. Founded in 1999 by Nicola Beauman, Persephone has a catalogue of 93 "neglected novels, diaries, poetry, short stories, non-fiction, biography and cookery books, mostly by women and mostly dating from the early to...
in 2009. They lived in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
for some years where she further established herself internationally as a speaker, writer, and artist. She returned with her husband to South Africa in 1994 for the South African election
South African general election, 1994
The South African general election of 1994 was an election held in South Africa to mark the end of apartheid, therefore also the first held with universal adult suffrage. The election was conducted under the direction of the Independent Electoral Commission .Millions queued in lines over a three...
in which fellow activist Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
was elected President
President of South Africa
The President of the Republic of South Africa is the head of state and head of government under South Africa's Constitution. From 1961 to 1994, the head of state was called the State President....
. She died at the age of 91 in Cape Town, South Africa.
Early life
Bernstein was born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n immigrants Simeon and Dora Schwarz. When she was ten her father, who was a lifelong Bolshevik and had been the Russian Trade Attaché to Britain, was recalled to the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. He was not able to return to Britain, and after his death she quit school to work before emigrating to South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
at the age of 18 to work in journalism
Journalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
.
Activism in South Africa
In response to the rise of fascismFascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
in Europe, she became involved with the Labour Party
Labour Party (South Africa)
The South African Labour Party, formed in March 1910 following discussions between trade unions and the Independent Labour Party of Transvaal, was a professedly democratic socialist party representing the interests of the white working class.-History:...
. This party, however, did not share her growing concern with apartheid and she left it to join the South African Communist Party
South African Communist Party
South African Communist Party is a political party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa by the joining together of the International Socialist League and others under the leadership of Willam H...
, the only South African party with no racial segregation. She demonstrated her speaking and organizing skills on the party's district committee and national executive committee.
Through her political activities she met Lionel "Rusty" Bernstein
Lionel Bernstein
Lionel "Rusty" Bernstein was a South African anti-apartheid activist and political prisoner.-Early life:Bernstein was born in Durban, the youngest of four children of Jewish émigrés from Europe. He was orphaned at eight years old, and brought up by relatives, after which he was sent to finish his...
, whom she married in March 1941.
In 1943 she was elected to the city council of Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
by a then all-white electorate, the only member of the Communist Party to do so. She used this position for three years as a platform for publicizing the injustices of apartheid.
In the 1950s she became more focused on organizing with women. She was a founding member of the multi-racial Federation of South African Women in 1956, and she was one of the organizers of the Women's March to Pretoria . Her writings were appearing regularly in periodicals in South Africa and other nations in Africa and Europe.
As early as 1946 the South African government began its attempts to limit her activities and minimize her political influence. In that year she was convicted of assisting an illegal strike of black mineworkers. In 1953 the government banned her membership in a list of organizations, and in 1958 extended this ban to prohibit her from writing or publishing. In 1960 she was detained during the state of emergency declared after the Sharpeville massacre
Sharpeville massacre
The Sharpeville Massacre occurred on 21 March 1960, at the police station in the South African township of Sharpeville in the Transvaal . After a day of demonstrations, at which a crowd of black protesters far outnumbered the police, the South African police opened fire on the crowd, killing 69...
. She was therefore required to go underground with her political work.
In 1963 her husband Rusty was one of 19 African National Congress
African National Congress
The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
leaders arrested at Johannesburg suburb of Rivonia
Rivonia, Gauteng
Rivonia is a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa in the Sandton area. It is located in Region 3. Rivonia is one of the most affluent residential and business suburbs of Johannesburg, and regarded as the hub of upstart I.T. companies...
. Rusty was acquitted at the Rivonia Trial
Rivonia Trial
The Rivonia Trial was a trial that took place in South Africa between 1963 and 1964, in which ten leaders of the African National Congress were tried for 221 acts of sabotage designed to overthrow the apartheid system.-Origins:...
, but was soon rearrested and released on bail to house arrest. Hilda Bernstein fled from their home as the police were on the way to arrest her. They fled to Botswana
Botswana
Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are referred to as "Batswana" . Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966...
, crossing the border on foot.
Life in exile
In exile, the Bernsteins eventually settled in BritainUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
where they continued to work in support of the African National Congress. She also dedicated her written and oral communication skills to the Anti-Apartheid Movement
Anti-Apartheid Movement
Anti-Apartheid Movement , originally known as the Boycott Movement, was a British organization that was at the center of the international movement opposing South Africa's system of apartheid and supporting South Africa's Blacks....
and the British peace movement. Her writings and speaking engagements were numerous in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
She wrote several books, including The World That was Ours which documented their flight from South Africa. She also dedicated more time to her art, which appeared in several shows and became part of many public and private collections. Her artwork has also been used in many publications for the Anti-Apartheid Movement.
Return to South Africa
Rusty and Hilda Bernstein returned to South Africa in 1994 to participate in the South African electionSouth African general election, 1994
The South African general election of 1994 was an election held in South Africa to mark the end of apartheid, therefore also the first held with universal adult suffrage. The election was conducted under the direction of the Independent Electoral Commission .Millions queued in lines over a three...
which was the first democratic election where all races were allowed to vote, and see the end of apartheid and their fellow ANC member Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
become president
President of South Africa
The President of the Republic of South Africa is the head of state and head of government under South Africa's Constitution. From 1961 to 1994, the head of state was called the State President....
.
In 1998, both Rusty and Hilda were awarded honorary degrees from the University of Natal
University of Natal
The University of Natal was a university in Natal, and later KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, that is now part of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. It was founded in 1910 as the Natal University College in Pietermaritzburg, and expanded to include a campus in Durban in 1931. In 1947, the university...
for their role in helping to bring democracy to South Africa. Rusty died at their home in 2002.
In 2004 she was awarded the Luthuli Silver Award
Order of Luthuli
The Order of Luthuli is a South African honour. It was instituted on 30 November 2003, and is granted by the president of South Africa, for contributions to South Africa in the following fields: the struggle for democracy, building democracy and human rights, nation-building, justice and...
for her "contribution to the attainment of gender equality and a free and democratic society" in South Africa. She died from heart failure at the age of 91 at her home in Cape Town, South Africa. She was survived by their four children: Toni, Patrick, Frances, and Keith Bernstein.
Published works
- The World that was OursThe World that was OursThe World that was Ours is Hilda Bernstein's personal account of life in Johannesburg under the oppressive surveillance of the apartheid regime. Hilda and her husband Rusty Bernstein were both detained, along with many others, in the aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre of 1960...
(Persephone BooksPersephone BooksPersephone Books is an independent publisher based in Bloomsbury, London. Founded in 1999 by Nicola Beauman, Persephone has a catalogue of 93 "neglected novels, diaries, poetry, short stories, non-fiction, biography and cookery books, mostly by women and mostly dating from the early to...
, 1967, Reissued in 2009, ISBN 978-1-906462-09-3) - 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 (reprinted as Separation, Corvo Books, ISBN 0-9543255-2-4)
- The Trials of Nelson Mandela
Sources
- "Hilda Bernstein, 91, Author and Anti-Apartheid Activist, Dies", Associated Press, The New York Times, September 13, 2006.
- "Hilda Bernstein Obituary", Lionel "Rusty" Bernstein — South African freedom fighter — tribute website, Patrick Bernstein. (Retrieved September 13, 2006)
External links
- "Hilda Bernstein", Guernica Gallery of Graphic Arts
- "Hilda Bernstein Obituary", at Lionel "Rusty" Bernstein — South African freedom fighter — tribute website
- "Hilda Bernstein Pictures" at Lionel "Rusty" Bernstein — South African freedom fighter — tribute website
- http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/governence-projects/womens-struggle/orgs-fedsaw.htm The Federation of South African women
- http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/governence-projects/womens-struggle/struggle5_1.htm The march on Pretoria