Hilda Bernstein

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 women's rights activist.

Life

Hilda Watts was born as a daughter of Simeon and Dora Black in London. Her father was a Bolshevik and came back in 1925 no longer from the Soviet Union. She emigrated in 1932 with her mother to South Africa where she first became involved in the youth organization of the South African Labour 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, they played a significant role in the fight for the end of apartheid in South Africa.

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

Works (selection)

• The World Ours did what. Persephone Books, 1967; Re- edition 2009, ISBN 978-1-906462-09-3. dt The men of Rivonia South Africa in the mirror of a process. Folk & World, Berlin 1970.