Goldberg, Denis

Denis Goldberg was born in Cape Town in 1933. In 1954 he became a member of the ANC-led Congress Alliance and later a member of the South African Communist Party (SACP). He was detained for four months in the 1960 state of emergency. In 1961 he was a technical officer at the Western Cape Regional Command of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the underground armed wing of the ANC. In 1963 he became part of the National High Command and was arrested in July 1963. He was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 1964. After spending 22 years in prison, Goldberg was released in February 1985.

Goldberg was a representative of the ANC in London from 1985 until 1994, serving as its spokesperson and as a publicist. He also represented the ANC at the UN Special Committee on Apartheid.

In 1995 he founded the charity organization Community H.E.A.R.T. (Health Education and Reconstruction Training) in the UK and is now its honorary president. He is still chairperson of its sister organization in Germany, which he founded in 1996. From 2002 to 2006, Goldberg was special adviser to the South African Ministers of Water and Forestry.

Goldberg has undertaken more than 30 speaking tours in many parts of Germany. In 2010 he published an autobiography, The Mission: A Life for Freedom in South Africa, along with a German edition, Der Auftrag: Ein Leben für die Freiheit in Südafrika. A video biography, Comrade Goldberg, premiered in Germany and South Africa in 2010.

Awards:
Visiting Professor and LL.D (h.c.) Glasgow Caledonian University
Ph.D. (h.c) MEDUNSA
2009 Order of Luthuli (Silver)
2010 Federal Republic Germany: Order of Merit (Verdienstkreuz am Bande)