Foreword: Helen Joseph’s – If This Be Treason – by Benjamin Trisk

Origin date: March 2018
Updated: 14 Jan 2021

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Summary

I was unaware of Helen Joseph’s memoir of the Treason Trial (1956 – 1961) until I came across a letter to I.A. Maisels QC (Isie), who was my father-in-law. I was helping him tidy up some old papers around 1991 or 1992 (he died at the end of 1994) and I found a hand-written letter among his papers. It was addressed to him in an unknown hand and dated 22^nd February 1961. A facsimile of the letter is included in this book. Among the signatories to the letter was Helen Joseph. She was one of the activists who was detained and charged with others in December 1956. Between December 5 and December 12, 1956, 156 people were arrested. The charge was High Treason.

How we know this

01Joseph, H. (2018). If This Be Treason, Kwela Books. Foreward by Benjamin Trisk, Johannesburg

Last updated · 14 Jan 2021

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2021, January 14). Foreword: Helen Joseph’s – If This Be Treason – by Benjamin Trisk. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/R-0150678

South African History Online (2021) 'Foreword: Helen Joseph’s – If This Be Treason – by Benjamin Trisk', South African History Online, 14 January. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/R-0150678 (Accessed: 27 August 2026).

South African History Online, Foreword: Helen Joseph’s – If This Be Treason – by Benjamin Trisk [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/R-0150678, (accessed 27 August 2026).

"Foreword: Helen Joseph’s – If This Be Treason – by Benjamin Trisk." South African History Online, 14 Jan. 2021, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/R-0150678. Accessed 27 Aug. 2026.

South African History Online. "Foreword: Helen Joseph’s – If This Be Treason – by Benjamin Trisk." South African History Online. January 14, 2021. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/R-0150678.