Hymie Barsel

Hymie Barsel (11 September 1920 – 13 March 1987) was a South African activist.

Hymie Barsel was born on 11 September 1920 in Fordsburg, Johannesburg, South Africa to Faiga and Moishe Barsel, both of Litvak heritage. He was raised in a Zionist oriented home. He suffered from epilepsy which was ill understood at that time, eventually receiving treatment from Dr. Max Joffe; also a Zionist. Dr. Joffe taught him that antisemitism could never be destroyed unless all racial prejudice was similarly destroyed, this concept of equality of all humanity was at that time the basis of the understanding of the term Communist – a philosophy of human upliftment followed by many in the liberation movement. This was very different from the version of Communism that would later follow in the Soviet Union.

Hymie became progressively more involved in the Youth Liberation Movement and began working as an organizer and then Secretary of the Friends of the Soviet Union (FSU). He was sent to Durban where he worked with the African National Congress (ANC) and the Natal Indian Congress (NIC), this is where he was confronted by the violence offered by the Grey Shirts (a Fascist organization).

Hymie organized FSU branches throughout South Africa, and organized medical assistance for the Soviet Union during the war. He was appointed Secretary of the Johannesburg Medical Aid for Russia. During the war, South Africa and the Soviet Union were allies, and Hymie sought diplomatic ties between South Africa and Russia. Russia opened a diplomatic mission in South Africa, but this was not reciprocated by South Africa in Russia.

After the war, Hymie married Esther Levin on 4 December 1945, another Litvak who had been born in Raguva, Lithuania. Together Hymie and Esther worked to organize the Congress of the People (COP) in June 1955. Hymie was famous for selling and distributing COP literature.

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