Esther Barsel
| Esther Barsel | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Esther Luriane 17 October 1924 Lithuania |
| Died | 6 October 2008 (aged 83) |
| Occupation | political activist |
Esther Barsel (born 17 October 1924, in Raguva, Lithuania; died 6 October 2008, in Johannesburg) was a South African political activist and long-standing member of the South African Communist Party (SACP). She was a member of both her local African National Congress branch and the SACP's Johannesburg Central Branch.
Barsel was daughter of Joseph Levin of Kubelake from Ukraine and Sonia Garenblumaite of Raguva from Lithuania. Joseph Levin said he was escaping pogroms in Ukraine when he relocated to Raguva about 1915. Later he assumed the identity of a dead man - Lieb Lurije in order to avoid detection.
When Barsel's mother met Joseph Levin, he was already living under the assumed name of Leib Lurije. Esther's birth record in the vital records of Raguva shows her mother Sonia as Garenblumaite in Lithuanian, and in the original Yiddish the transcription would be Garnblum. Esther's father's occupation was merchant, inhabitant of Raguva. Her birth record shows her father as a man that had already been dead for two years.
In 1926 Joseph Levin went to South Africa under the Lurije identity, changing his name back to Levin upon arrival in South Africa. Esther was 6 months old when he left Lithuania. He stayed with Sonia's brother Abraham Bloom (ex Garrenblum) in Middelburg. Esther & her mother Sonia followed in 1927; entry records into South Africa show Esther Luriane (aged 3 yrs) arrived in 1927 by boat. Joseph Levin then bought a farm store about 18 miles from Middelburg which he sold in about 1936. They then moved to Johannesburg.
Esther was an early participant in the Liberation Struggle against Apartheid, joining the SACP at the age of fourteen.
Esther worked as a secretary / bookkeeper for Friends of the Soviet Union where she met Hymie Barsel, the coordinator of the project. They married in Johannesburg on 4 December 1945. They travelled the country together promotingKarl Marx.
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