(Author: David Saks, Vol. 66, #3, Chanukah 2011)
At the opening of the 46th National Conference of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies on 27 August 2011, the SAJBD Human Rights Award was presented posthumously to Arthur Goldreich. At the presentation of the award, which was accepted by two of his sons, Paul and Amos, the following citation was read out:
The SA Jewish Board of Deputies, on behalf of the Jewish community of South Africa, hereby pays tribute to the late Arthur Goldreich, hero of the South African liberation struggle and pioneer of the State of Israel.
A gifted artist and designer who enjoyed considerable success in his professional activities, Arthur Goldreich could easily have lived a life of comfort and affluence. Instead, he chose to jeopardize it all by joining the underground anti-apartheid resistance, in the course of which he played a pivotal role in the establishment of Umkhonto we Sizwe and the launch of the Armed Struggle against Apartheid.
Arthur Goldreich’s name will always be associated with Liliesleaf Farm, legendary headquarters of the African National Congress and its armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe. Here, he lived with his family while working closely with such eminent figures in the liberation movement as Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Ahmed Kathrada and Rusty Bernstein. Following his capture he led, with characteristic bravery and initiative, the daring escape bid that saw himself and three more of his comrades make their way to freedom.
Arthur Goldreich also rendered distinguished service to the State of Israel. His abhorrence of antisemitism, particularly in the wake of the Holocaust, saw him serve as a volunteer in the Israeli armed forces during the 1948 War of Independence. Following his escape from South Africa, he settled permanently in Israel. There, he became a leading figure at Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy, establishing its world-renowned Department of Industrial and Environmental Design Department, while winning worldwide acclaim both as an artist and a stage designer.
For his contribution to design and education in Israel, he was presented with the Yakir Bezalel award by President Moshe Katsav.
The SA Jewish Board of Deputies is privileged to honor the memory of Arthur Goldreich, a true patriot who fought courageously both for Jewish freedom and for the freedom of all the people of South Africa.
During the Israeli War of Independence in 1948, Jewish volunteers from all over the Diaspora came to fight for the new-born Jewish state. South African Jewry provided by far the highest proportion of these volunteers, in excess of 800 in fact. Given that the Jewish population was then no more than 100 000, it is apparent that around one in 25 South African Jews of military age served as volunteers in the nascent IDF, a truly remarkable statistic.1
Also in 1948, the National Party was elevated to power in South Africa on its platform of ‘apartheid’, through which policy it pledged to ensure white domination in perpetuity. Over the next few decades, a small minority of whites joined their black compatriots in fighting that iniquitous system, and of these, a strikingly high proportion were Jews.
Jewish South Africans who fought for Israel and those who fought apartheid were almost never the same people. Indeed, the two groups tended to have diametrically opposed outlooks. The former identified strongly as Jews, and were motivated by a strong desire to serve the greater cause of Jewish peoplehood; the latter had largely jettisoned any lingering identification with their Jewish heritage and instead embraced a broad internationalism that rendered all distinctions of race, class and ethnicity irrelevant.
Of those very few exceptions who served both causes, the most striking was Arthur Goldreich. Almost uniquely amongst the more radical Jewish anti-apartheid activists, his political activities on behalf of his non-white compatriots were paralleled by his equally honorably record as a fighter for and later a distinguished citizen of the State of Israel.
Goldreich was born to Samuel and Sadie Goldreich, an immigrant couple of Lithuanian Jewish origin, in Johannesburg in 1929. He grew up in Pietersburg, a conservative rural town in the then Northern Transvaal, where he received his schooling. His determination to resist what he considered to be injustice was shown even at this early stage when he refused to read a Hitler Youth magazine as part of his German instruction and successfully insisted that he and his fellow Jewish pupils be taught Hebrew instead.2
In 1948, while still a teenager, Goldreich made his way to Israel to fight for the new-born Jewish State. Revelations of Nazi atrocities had much to do with his decision, which meant putting off his architectural studies. During the war, he served in a kibbutz unit of the Palmach based on Kibbutz Mayan Baruch. Thereafter, he lived in Israel for a spell before returning to South Africa. In 1952, he married Hazel Berman, went on to study further in London and in 1954 returned to South Africa to embark on a successful career as an abstract artist and designer. In 1955, he received South Africa’s Best Young Painter Award.
At the same time, Goldreich was becoming increasingly involved in the anti-apartheid movement. In December 1961, he and his family moved to Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, which had been bought by the SA Communist Party to serve as headquarters for the underground resistance.
Nelson Mandela, leader of the now banned African National Congress (ANC) and himself by then on the run from the police for organising an illegal strike, was already living there in the guise of a caretaker-cum-houseboy. He and Goldreich spent much time together, discussing tactics for MK – the newly formed armed wing of the ANC, Umkhonto we Sizwe. Mandela’s knowledge of guerrilla tactics was much enhanced through learning about Goldreich’s experiences in Israel.
Goldreich helped locate sabotage sites for MK and draft a disciplinary code for guerrillas. During this time, he travelled to China, the Soviet Union and East Germany seeking military aid and information on making weapons. The incipient armed resistance movement never had a chance, however. By mid-1963, it had been thoroughly infiltrated by the Security Police, which in July that year embarked on a series of countrywide swoops that quickly broke the back of the antiapartheid underground. It commenced with a raid on Liliesleaf, in which 17 resistance leaders were seized. Six of those arrested were whites and all of those were Jews – Goldreich, Wolpe, Lionel Bernstein, Denis Goldberg, Robert Hepple and Hilliard Festenstein.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row] Aerial view of Liliesleaf Farm, headquarters of Umkhonto we Sizwe, 1963. Goldreich and his familylived in the main house. At the height of the State’s triumph, Goldreich and Wolpe’s subsequent escape, along with fellow activists Moosa Moola and Abdullai Jassat, from the high security Marshall Square prison provided at least a crumb of comfort for the devastated liberation forces. Joel Joffe, in his book on the Rivonia trial The Rivonia Story, describes how it all happened. It began with Goldreich, through his sister on the outside, providing the young prison warder Johannes Greef with £50 to help him settle a debt. Having gained his trust, Goldreich now put a further proposal to Greef – £2000 in exchange for the keys to the cells where he and Wolpe were being held: The arrangement was that Goldreich was to simulate an assault on Greef and tie him up. When it came to the fateful night, Greef lacked the resolution to carry through a cold blooded assault on himself. He unlocked the doors. Goldreich and Wolpe released their friends Moola and Jassat. Greef undertook to cosh himself into unconsciousness after giving them five minutes start. They had gone off into the night. That was Greef’s side of the story, all he knew.3 Early on the morning of 11 August 1963, the eminent writer and critic Barney Simon parked his car in a small, dark street in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, got out and began relieving himself. Having been mugged some six months before, he was already feeling nervous, hence his alarm when he heard a rustle and realised that someone was hiding in the bushes nearby. He leapt back into his car and began driving off, but then heard his own name being called: It was Harold Wolpe and Arthur Goldreich. What had happened was that they had escaped from Marshall Square by bribing a guard, but the getaway car they expected wasn’t there. They had been wandering on the outskirts of Johannesburg unsure where to go. So they chose me. They chose my apartment because it was a place that Harold knew. They were en route there when they encountered me on this dark corner.4 With the help of Simon and various others, Goldreich and Wolpe were kept hidden for several days while the State, furious over the unexpected setback, instituted perhaps the most intensive manhunt in the country’s history. Radio broadcasts and press advertisements urged the public to come forward with relevant information, for which a sizable reward was promised. Road blocks were set up both around Johannesburg and also at the border posts of the British Protectorates of Swaziland, Basutholand and Bechuanaland. Despite this Goldreich and the other escapees, with the assistance of the anti-apartheid underground, succeeded in making their way across the border, first to Swaziland and then, by light plane, to Bechuanaland – modern-day Botswana. Even then, they were not home free. They were prevented from getting on a flight out of the country for several weeks, and during that time there was a very real danger of their being assassinated by apartheid agents. In the end, they did succeed in getting on a plane, ultimately finding their way to safety in the UK. Goldreich’s escape was an especially galling blow to the establishment as he was considered the group’s ‘arch conspirator’. When asked how it would affect the trial of the remainder of those arrested at Liliesleaf, Minister of Justice B J Vorster reportedly said, “It will more or less be like producing Hamlet without the Prince. But the show will go on just the same.”5 According to a Time magazine report, dated 30 August 1963, the Rivonia raid and escape of Goldreich and Wolpe “touched off ominous rumblings” against South African Jewry. It was reported that when Criminal Investigation Chief RJ van den Bergh made reference to the raid in a speech, a voice from the audience cried: “Jews!” Van den Bergh’s response was that foes of apartheid might indeed be “instruments of Jews”. The Secretary of the SAJBD, Jack Rich, received a call from the pro-government, Afrikaans language newspaper Dagbreek around this time. Why was it, the journalist wished to know, that so many of the white communist plotters were Jews? Did it suggest that Jews were not happy in South Africa? And what was the official Board view on the matter? After due consultation, the Board issued this response: “The facts prove abundantly that the Jewish community of South Africa is a settled, loyal and patriotic section of the population. The acts of individuals of any section are their responsibility and no section of the community can or should be asked to accept responsibility therefor. If individuals transgress the law, they render themselves liable to its penalties. The Jewish community condemns illegality in whatever section of the population it appears.”66 It is easy in retrospect to condemn the above as mealy-mouthed and evasive. Being brave after the danger has passed is one thing; it is quite another when the threat real and immediate. When Rich received this enquiry, white South Africa was in a state of paranoia, bordering on frenzy, over the exposure of a plot to violently overthrow the state. That individual Jews were all too evidently involved in the dastardly conspiracy had hardly gone unnoticed. The leaders of the SAJBD were in an unenviable position. Their primary mandate was to protect the community from antisemitism, yet here found themselves being virtually railroaded into taking sides between the apartheid establishment and the anti-apartheid resistance. Any statement suggesting support for the latter would have provoked a strong antisemitic reaction, particularly at that time of public hysteria over communist plots and imminent violent insurrection by the barbarous Bantu. On the other hand, meekly taking the Government’s side was likewise unacceptable. The Board’s mandate did not extend to adopting political positions on behalf of South African Jewry as a whole, especially ones that were unlikely to have enjoyed majority support within the community. Most Jews were not as radical as Goldreich et al, but neither did they feel comfortable endorsing the hard-line race policies of the ruling National Party. At election time, they overwhelmingly voted against the ‘Nats’, and all Jewish Members of Parliament represented the comparatively more liberal Opposition. Under the circumstances, a non-committal ‘kicking for touch’ statement from the SAJBD, if not heroic, was at least understandable. Jewish veterans of the anti-apartheid struggle, particularly those who actually broke the law and thereby put themselves at considerable risk, are largely contemptuous of the mainstream Jewish leadership for their apartheid-era record. Not without reason, they accuse the latter of dissociating themselves from Jewish activists in their hour of need and then opportunistically embracing them when it was safe to do so. To this, the Jewish mainstream can retort that the Struggle’s Kosher Cadres actually turned their backs on all things Jewish well before the rest of the community turned its collective back on them. They had scorned Judaism, denounced Zionism, eschewed any kind of Jewish education for their children and even actively supported some of the most virulent enemies of the Jewish people, including the Soviet Union and the Palestine Liberation Organisation. How dared such non-Jewish Jews to presume – as Jews – to lecture the rest of the community on how its members should have behaved? To Arthur Goldreich, no such response would have been possible. On learning that mainstream Jewish leaders had reportedly distanced themselves from him by describing him as “not a true Jew” whose only attendance of a synagogue had been at his bris, he retorted: “Frankly, I don’t remember my bris, but I doubt whether it was in a synagogue because it is not the South African Jewish custom to hold such ceremonies in a synagogue. I did have a barmitzvah. I served in Machal and lived in Israel. I think I am a Jew, alright”. The above comments were recorded in a Jerusalem Post interview conducted with Goldreich and published on 10 January 1964. In the same interview, Goldreich had the following to say about the South African Jewish leadership: Once it was found necessary to organise the Jews into the Jewish Board of Deputies, they have to take a stand on the all-important question of white supremacy. Nothing else matters in South Africa – either you are for white supremacy, or you are against it. The traditional Jewish values demand that the Jews should be opposed to the supremacy of any race, creed or colour. If any group in the world has a responsibility as a group to oppose Fascism, it is the Jews. It staggered me in Johannesburg to see Jews come out of cinemas after seeing films like Mein Kampf, with tragic faces, yet they did not object to the same evils being applied to the Africans. I do not say that the Jews must oppose the Government, but they must come out for basic human rights. While the official Jewish stance was neither to condemn nor endorse Goldreich and his fellow activists, there was nevertheless vehement anti-communist sentiment within sections of the Jewish community. Goldreich later stated that Jewish individuals had even offered to increase the reward for his capture. Even when he had settled in Israel, this hostility continued to manifest. He later obtained a copy of a letter sent to the South African consulate in Cyprus by an ex-South African Israeli asking for South Africa to endorse a proposed assassination attempt against him. The official reply to this was that South Africa would in no way condone such a plot, which may have been enough to ensure that no such attempt was ultimately made in the end. Nevertheless, that such an approach was even made is indicative of what Paul Goldreich characterized as the “fanatical paranoia within the community that could not allow Jewry to support the anti-apartheid stance of Jews such as my father”. 7 After a short stay in the UK following his escape, Goldreich returned to Israel, where he lived for the remainder of his life. He continued to pursue his artistic career, winning worldwide acclaim both as an artist and a stage designer. He also became a leading figure at Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy, establishing its world-renowned Department of Industrial and Environmental Design Department. He was Professor of Architecture and headed the Department of Industrial and Environmental Design for many years. In 1973, he once again took up arms in defence of the State of Israel, serving in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. After retiring from teaching, Goldreich established the Arthur Goldreich Trust to support art and architectural projects in Israel. In 2006, he received the Yakir Bezalel award for his contribution to design and education in Israel, presented to him by President Moshe Katsav. During the 1970s, Goldreich became involved to a limited extent in local anti-apartheid activities. In particular, he played a leading role in opposing the increasingly close relationship that began developing between Israel and South Africa after 1973. In the end, he lived to the ideal for which he had fought for in South Africa become a reality. After 1990, the last vestiges of the Apartheid policy were abolished, political prisoners released and all political organizations legalized. In April 1994, the country held its first fully democratic, non-racial elections. After many years in political exile, Goldreich was now able to visit the land of his birth once more. In his final years, he returned to South Africa on a number of occasions, attending reunions with his former Struggle comrades. In 2001, he took part in the fortieth anniversary commemorations of the founding of MK, and also was present at a reunion at Liliesleaf of former Rivonia Trialists and their lawyers. Goldreich recounted to this gathering how Colonel Hendrik van den Bergh, the ruthlessly capable founder and head of South Africa’s first intelligence agency, had taunted him in their interview shortly after his arrest: Goldreich with students at Bezalel, Jerusalem, circa 1966 “So how do you feel now, Arthur? You thought we were stupid, didn’t you Arthur? Now look where you are. You are going to prison for a long, long time Arthur. Because you under-estimated us.” Goldreich then looked heavenwards and raised his voice: “Van den Bergh, where are you now? WE are here, Van den Bergh! WE have survived! Where are YOU, Van den Bergh?”8 Did Goldreich ultimately become an anti-Zionist? According to a controversial article in the Guardian by Chris MacGreal, he certainly made some scathing observations about the “abhorrent” racism in Israeli society all the way up to cabinet ministers who advocated the forced removal of Arabs, and “the brutality and inhumanity of what is imposed on the people of the occupied territories of Palestine”. Rhetorically, he asked: “Don’t you find it horrendous that this people and this state, which only came into existence because of the defeat of fascism and Nazism in Europe, and in the conflict six million Jews paid with their lives for no other reason than that they were Jews, is it not abhorrent that in this place there are people who can say these things and do these things?” 9 According to a close friend, such comments need to be seen not as evidence of a rejection of Israel and Zionism but as those of a patriotic Israeli genuinely distressed over some of the things his country was doing, particularly in the Occupied Territories. Notwithstanding his opposition to the occupation, he never became an active campaigner against it. As quoted by Jerusalem Post reporter Larry Derfner the (unnamed) friend said of him, “He had liberal ideals about the situation, but he didn’t go on marches, he didn’t demonstrate at the security fence…he was a Zionist, he loved this country, and anybody who says he was anti-Israel is totally wrong.”10 Arthur Goldreich died in Kfar Saba on 24 May 2011 at the age of 82. He left four sons from three separate relationships and seven grandchildren. At his funeral at Kibbutz Givat Hashlosha cemetery, the ceremony concluded with the playing of Nkosi Sikelel’ iafrika. Serving in the IDF during the Yom Kippur War,1973 David Saks is Associate Director of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies and editor of Jewish Affairs. 
NOTES
Reunion with Nelson Mandela, Johannesburg, December 2001
David Saks is Associate Director of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies and editor of Jewish Affairs.
