About Hilda Bernstein
Hilda Bernstein OLG (15 May 1915 – 8 September 2006) was a British-born author, artist, and an activist against apartheid and for women's rights. She was born Hilda Schwarz in London, England, and emigrated to South Africa at the age of 18 years, becoming 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 1967 book The World that was Ours, which was republished by Persephone Books in 2004. 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. 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. 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.
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