Denis was one of the first babies born in Mowbray Maternity Hospital, Cape Town. His parents, Annie and Sam, were communists who had immigrated from England. Denis grew up in a working-class family. His father tried to support the family through a series of different small businesses. He had a small trucking company when Denis was a child.

“South Africa had its share of militant groups of Nazi sympathizers and anti-Semites. Even as a child I experienced them. Living across the road from us … was Sergeant Jordaan, an Afrikaner. His son, who was a few years older than I, would strut about wearing his father’s police cap and his revolver holster, throwing ‘Heil Hitler’ salutes ... Catching sight of me, he would shout, “I’ll get you, Jew boy!”
<quote-source>- Denis Goldberg<quote-source>

Denis attended Observatory Boys Junior and High Schools near to where he lived. Denis often told the story about how his first teacher, Miss Cook, gave his class a practical lesson about discrimination after they had dishonestly blamed a disabled classmate for stealing Miss Cook’s pen.

Denis started his studies in civil engineering at the University of Cape Town (UCT) when he was 16 years old. He had wanted to study medicine but his father did not have enough money for such a long degree. Denis studied hard at university but he also joined the multi-racial youth organisation, the Modern Youth Society. There he met Esme Bodenstein, who had come from Johannesburg to live in Cape Town.

Denis ultimately used his engineering knowledge to create weapons for Umkhonto we Sizwe to help destroy apartheid. Denis’s hope was to use these skills to <block-quote>“build houses, roads, and bridges for all the people of South Africa.”<block-quote>

Denis first met Esme when she came to ask his mother for blankets after arriving in Cape Town from Johannesburg. A year after their marriage, their daughter Hilary was born, followed by their son David three years later.

Denis joined the newly-established Congress of Democrats, an organisation for white people who supported the African National Congress (ANC). He was treasurer and chairperson at different times.

In 1955, Denis worked in the Loyolo informal settlement in Simonstown, organising support for the Congress of the People, which adopted the Freedom Charter that still guides ANC policy today. Denis was sacked from his job with South African Railways when they found out that he was organising for the Congress of the People.

In 1950, the Suppression of Communism Act banned the Communist Party. The Party went underground and Denis joined it in 1957. Members met and worked in small groups called cells because small meetings were easier to hide from the Security Police than big meetings. Denis’s comrades in his cell included Albie Sachs, Nana Abrahams, Blanche la Guma, and Bubbles (Colette) Thorne.

Both Denis’s parents had been active communists in London before they came to South Africa. They also played an active role in the Woodstock branch of the South African Communist Party. Sam Goldberg was also listed as a Communist which meant that his words could not be quoted – not even after he died.

On this day, outside the police station in the township of Sharpeville, the police shot and killed 69 and wounded more than 180 people. The group was protesting against the pass laws that controlled where African people could live and work.

The government responded by declaring a State of Emergency and banning the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). They also detained more than 11 000 people, including Denis and his mother, Annie. They were imprisoned separately – in Worcester and in Paarl prison (now named Victor Verster) respectively. Because of apartheid, white women and men were also kept separately from black women and men. Esme had to travel more than 100 kilometres each way between Cape Town and Worcester and about 60 kilometres each way between Cape Town and Paarl to visit them while also trying to earn enough money as a physiotherapist to provide for the family’s needs. Denis was in detention for four months.

After his release, Denis returned to the construction site where he had been working before he was jailed. But the engineer in charge said that the Security Police had written to the company saying that they must not allow Denis to continue to work there because he was dangerous. Denis then found another job designing a road in South West Africa (now Namibia). This meant that he was separated from his family for another three months.

After the ANC was banned, some of its leaders felt that with the ever-stricter laws and controls, freedom would not be achieved through peaceful protest alone. They founded MK as the armed wing of the organisation, under Nelson Mandela’s leadership.

Denis was recruited into MK in 1961 as a technical officer in the Western Cape Regional Command and learnt how to make bombs that could damage buildings and electricity lines, but not target people.

“He was the bravest of us all by far … We were all talkers but none of us went deep into the underground … Denis gave himself up completely to the struggle for freedom in South Africa … And his courage didn't desert him even after he'd been captured … He was courageous all the way through.”
<quote-source>- Albie Sachs, speaking at Denis’s online memorial in May 2020<quote-source>

Denis’s comrades told him to leave the country for training overseas so as not to be arrested under the 90-day detention law. He travelled via Johannesburg so that he could meet with the MK High Command on the way. They were stationed at Liliesleaf Farm, the secret headquarters of the ANC, MK and Communist Party. One of the leaders then asked him to stay in Johannesburg and find out how to produce weapons for the Operation Mayibuye plan that was being discussed.

On 11 July, the Security Police raided Liliesleaf. They arrested Denis and nine other comrades.

Denis and his comrades were held under the 90-day detention law. Denis was first held in Pretoria and then in Vereeniging. There Denis found a way, <block-quote>“with brute force and a little ingenuity”<block-quote>, to open his cell while the guards were on lunch break. He climbed onto the roof of the building, and jumped down twenty feet to the ground.

Unfortunately, a criminal prisoner saw Denis and alerted the guards. One of the prison guards kicked and broke his ribs while arresting him. Then they put him in leg irons that weighed about ten pounds. He was kept in leg irons for a month, and then had to relearn how to walk without this heavy weight.

Denis’s wife Esme found out about Denis’s escape attempt when someone collected his laundry from the prison and saw blood on the clothes.

Esme was then detained under the 90-day detention law. Granny Annie looked after the two children, Hilary and David. Esme was released in October after 38 days in detention. By the end of the year she, Hilary and David had gone into exile in London in the UK.

Denis was charged with sabotage together with Nelson Mandela and eight others. Twenty  witnesses gave evidence against Denis personally. The accused’s lawyers did not want Denis to give evidence. Denis explained:‍

<block-quote>“They were worried that I might antagonize the judge, who indicated that he thought of me as a ‘smart aleck’ who stirred up ‘poor but happy black’ to become ‘cheeky’ revolutionaries. [I gave evidence] “because I wanted to explain why I had been prepared to give up all the privileges of white racist society to help bring about a just society in which we would one day live in harmony.”<block-quote>
<quote-source>- Denis Goldberg, A Life for Freedom, 2016 p. 107<quote-source>

Denis was the youngest, and the only white person among the accused, to be found guilty. His black comrades were sent to Robben Island. He was jailed in Pretoria.

“At the end of the trial when the judge said he would not impose the ultimate penalty [death] but sentenced us to life imprisonment instead, we smiled, then laughed and I called out to my mother who could not hear very well that the sentence was Life! and life is wonderful.”
<quote-source>- Denis Goldberg<quote-source>

Denis was proud of being with Nelson Mandela when he pronounced the famous words: <block-quote>“It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realized. But, My Lord, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die”.<block-quote> But Denis said that it was the people and organisations outside prison in the 1980s who played the biggest role in ending apartheid.

Denis knew about many different things. Whilst in prison, Denis completed several degrees – a B Admin, a BA, and Bachelor in Librarianship – through the University of South Africa (UNISA). He did so because there were few other things to do in prison. But he also wanted to understand the world so that he could change it in order that everyone could enjoy it to the full. He was in the middle of a law degree when he was released.

“I started a degree in education ... What they were teaching in Christian National Education was horrific. They said just read the study guides and tell us what’s in them … I was quite relieved in the end when they said I couldn’t finish the degree … Because I was in prison, they wouldn’t allow me to go to a school to teach … I think they were happy to stop me and I was happy not to complete it.”
<quote-source>- Denis Goldberg<quote-source>

The number of visits and letters that prisoners could have depended on their prison grade. All political prisoners started as Grade D and could move gradually up to A if the prison authorities felt that they had behaved well. All other prisoners started as Grade C. They were moved to Grade D only if they broke prison rules.

The prison did not provide any pocket money. Family or friends had to provide this. Denis kept a careful record of his expenses in prison. Common expenses were groceries, toiletries, stationery, stamps (for letters), books, and subscriptions to magazines.

Most of the political prisoners shared what they bought with others. They also made some interesting ‘dishes’ for themselves, using whatever was available. Toothpaste, for example, was used to give a mint flavour to special desserts. Guy Berger remembers how Denis used a mango pip as the face for a puppet.

Denis saw more than 40 of his fellow white male political prisoners leave prison before he was released. In 1975, Bram Fischer died, shortly after being released on compassionate grounds to stay with his brother. Denis kept detailed notes on Bram’s illness, which the prison officials ignored until it was too late. Denis persuaded the prison officials to let him be in Bram’s cell overnight when Bram became too weak to care for himself.

Denis’s father, Sam, died in 1979. Denis visited his grave only six years later, when he was released from prison.

After deep thought, Denis agreed to sign a document stating that he personally would not engage in violent struggle. But he did not reject others using violence as one of the weapons against apartheid. Denis later recalled in his 2010 autobiography that to accept this condition, <block-quote>“was not a statement repudiating my role in the armed struggle. It was not an apology for having been involved in taking up arms against the state. Nor was I saying that the armed struggle was wrong. I was simply saying that I would not be a soldier any more – and it took me days and nights to work that out.”<block-quote> Denis’ release from prison after 22 years was reported around the world.

‍“There was controversy when Denis was released in 1985 before any of the others sentenced in the Rivonia Trial. (18 months before Govan Mbeki, 4 years before Walter Sisulu and others; last was Nelson Mandela in 1990.) Under the leadership of OR Tambo, the ANC adopted the view that Denis was a member of the liberation movement who had served with honour and would be welcomed back into our ranks.”
<quote-source>- Z Pallo Jordan, ‘Denis Goldberg and the Modern Youth Society’ in Kenvyn D (ed). Denis Goldberg: Freedom Fighter and Humanist, 2014: 31<quote-source>

After his release, Denis went straight to the Kibbutz in Israel where Hilary was living. Esme came over from London to meet him as well. She had been allowed to visit twice in 22 years.  Denis and Esme then returned to London where Esme had settled when she and their children had gone into exile. David lived close by and Hilary later returned to London where she ran a nursery school. Denis said that going to live in London was like coming home for him, while going to prison had been going into exile.

Denis started working for the London Mission very soon after his release. He became an official spokesperson for the ANC, and travelled to many countries mobilising support for a free South Africa.

“He had people laughing out loud and then brought tears to their eyes not just in the same speech but sometimes in the same scenario if not the same sentence.”
<quote-source>- Brian Filling, leader of the Scottish anti-apartheid movement<quote-source>

All adult South Africans had the opportunity to vote in the first democratic elections in the country. The majority of the votes were for the ANC, and Nelson Mandela became the first President of the “new” South Africa.

Denis and Esme visited South Africa in 1994. While here, they attended a luncheon organised at the time of Mandela’s inauguration to honour veterans of the anti-apartheid struggle.

Denis and Esme did not stay in South Africa. Esme wanted to continue with the life she had built in London, and Denis wanted to be with her. He established the Community H.E.A.R.T. (Health, Education and Reconstruction Training) organisations in the UK and Germany to raise funds to support development in South Africa.

In 2000, Esme Goldberg died, followed two years later by the death of their daughter, Hilary Goldberg. After their deaths, Denis at last returned to live in South Africa.

In 2002, he married his second wife, Edelgard Nkobi. They lived in Pretoria and he worked as advisor to Minister Ronnie Kasrils, and then Minister Buyelwa Sonjica.

“When I first met Denis in 2003, I interviewed him for a film [on the Rivonia Trial].  He greeted me with all the warmth and charisma of his powerful, liberated soul.  He was a knock-out. A combination of brilliant intellect, healthy and sardonic scepticism and immense humour … There were times when he was immensely moved by his own account and, of course, all of us privileged enough to be watching him in the garage outside his home in Pretoria … were moved in equal measure. The depth of his gaze. By turns grave, or sparkling, suddenly, gleeful at a private joy. His careful pauses. The way he knew how to unfold a story, like a great and venerated actor. ”
<quote-source>- Pascale Lamche, filmmaker<quote-source>

Denis and Edelgard moved to live in Hout Bay, Cape Town, the city in which he was born.

“Through Esme’s work as a physiotherapist and then as a rent-a-granny when her hands were so painful from arthritis, and as a den mother for hundreds of young people who lived in her house at various times, Esme was eventually able to buy a house in London. She left it to me when she died. It was five times the worth it had been when she bought it… Esme’s bequest to me … enabled me to build my house in Cape Town …  It is a tribute to Esme who made this work of art possible.

My house is also beautiful because I later married Edelgard Nkobi who had wonderful taste and the determination to make our home beautiful without being ostentatious.

The only thing [my two wives] did wrong was to die before me and leave me with nice things but without them, for they were the nicest of all.”
<quote-source>- Denis Goldberg<quote-source>

To make up for his 22 years in a grey cell, Denis’s home in Hout Bay was filled with more than 200 paintings and artefacts. These art works are now displayed in the Denis Goldberg House of Hope. Many artists also made portraits of Denis over the years.

Although he was officially retired, Denis continued to play a public role. He was an active member of the local ANC branch, and an ANC branch in Gauteng was named after him. Denis had strong principles. He remained loyal to the ANC to the end. His loyalty was to the values of the party and the Freedom Charter. He was one of the first to speak up against Jacob Zuma.

In January 2019, President Ramaphosa announced that Denis was to receive the Isithwalandwe/Seaparankwe award, which is the highest award given by the ANC.

Denis founded the DGLFT which then gave birth to, and raised funds for, the DGHOH. Building began in 2020. As Denis wrote in the conclusion to his autobiography: <block-quote>“For me, personally the work continues within my community to try to realise in practice the vision we had that our children shall not be hungry, shall be well cared for, go to school, have jobs to go to and to be able to laugh a little.”<block-quote>

“Denis was a dreamer. He understood that dreams do not come true without effort. He devoted much of the energy of his last years to creating opportunities in the arts and sports areas for the young people of Hout Bay. His will bequeathed most of his estate to the Denis Goldberg House of Hope.”
<quote-source>- Debbie Budlender<quote-source>

Denis is diagnosed with incurable lung cancer and told he has only three to six months left to live. On the eve of his 85th birthday, he said that he was “still full of life”. He stayed alive long enough to see the site of the Denis Goldberg House of Hope handed over to the builders for them to start their work.

“Denis’s commitment, energy and love of life sometimes made him obstinate. But he used humour to entertain, to get a message across in a non-confrontational way, to lighten a heavy moment, to mock himself, and perhaps also to hide difficult emotions. His humour was sometimes “naughty”, but it was never nasty. He referred to his own death as “shuffling off to Buffalo” based on Shakespeare’s  phrase ‘shuffle off this mortal coil’.”
<quote-source>- Debbie Budlender<quote-source>

Mandela used to call Denis “boy” because Denis was much younger than him. Denis liked this because during the apartheid years white people often referred to adult black men as “boys”.

Denis was awarded one of his five honorary doctorates by the Cape Peninsula University of Technology on his 86th birthday. The University organised a large cake for the celebration lunch.

Denis died just before midnight on 29 April. Tributes from across the world poured in. He is survived by his son David, two granddaughters and a grandson who all live in England.

“Denis Goldberg was a mensch, a human being of the highest integrity and honour who eschewed personal aggrandisement and consumptiveness. (In Yiddish, the word mensch means a person of integrity and honour, someone noble who should be emulated.) His lifetime contribution to South Africa and its people was second to none. His passing, conducted with customary courage and grace, feels as if the nation has lost part of its soul.”
<quote-source>- The Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation in its tribute to Denis<quote-source>

“Many people across the world cried when they heard he had died.”
<quote-source>- Debbie Budlender<quote-source>