25 May, 2011– On behalf of our Founder, Chairperson, Board of Trustees and staff we offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Arthur Goldreich who passed away, aged 82, on Tuesday. He is survived by his sons Nicholas, Paul, Amos and Eden.
An artist and designer who created the sets for the famous musical King Kong, Goldreich was also a political activist who became a member of Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) the armed wing of the ANC. Goldreich and his family provided refuge at their home on Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, to Nelson Mandela and other freedom fighters in 1961.
Goldreich was one of those arrested at the farm on 11 July, 1963 in the now infamous Rivonia Raid. Goldreich, along with Harold Wolpe, Mosie Moola and Abdulhay Jassat escaped from custody at Marshall Square Police Station in Johannesburg on 11 August, 1963. He moved to Israel in 1964 after his dramatic escape.
During his speech from the dock on 20 April, 1964 in the Rivonia Trial Mr Mandela said:
“Whilst staying at Liliesleaf farm, I frequently visited Arthur Goldreich in the main house and he also paid me visits in my room. We had numerous political discussions covering a variety of subjects. We discussed ideological and practical questions, the Congress Alliance ... Because of what I had got to know of Goldreich, I recommended on my return to South Africa that he should be recruited to Umkhonto [weSizwe, the armed wing of the ANC].”
After South Africa achieved democracy in 1994 Goldreich attended a reunion at Liliesleaf. It has since been transformed into a museum.