H-Judaic Seeking panel at AJS: Schlesin/

Discussion published by Harriet Feinberg on Tuesday, March 31, 2015 WITH GANDHI IN SOUTH AFRICA: SONJA SCHLESIN

Sonja Schlesin was Gandhi's administrative assistant and all-purpose helper during his years as a young lawyer in South Africa. The daughter of Lithuanian Jewish immigrants, at sixteen she began as Gandhi’s secretary in his law office. Gradually she became a crucial and much-valued assistant in his whole realm of activities and was completely devoted to his nonviolent methods of protest. She managed his office, dealt with donors, handled his correspondence, assisted protesters who had been arrested, and often accompanied Gandhi to his appointments.

Her time with Gandhi encompassed the turbulent years after the Second Boer War, the creation of the Union of South Africa out of its disparate British and Boer elements (1910), and the first major Gandhi-led campaign (1913).

Though Gandhi at this early stage in his development had several other very important Jewish supporters, Sonja Schlesin was the only one who actually worked for him as an employee, and the only woman. Certainly it was unusual for a young white Jewish woman to work for an Indian lawyer engaged in organizing Indians in South Africa to protest against government actions and laws. She did not follow him when he returned to India, but the two remained in touch until he was assassinated.

I hope to be invited to join a panel-in-formation and could orient a presentation on Schlesin around Jews and empire/colonialism/racism, Jews and social justice/, Jewish women’s activism, or Jews in the history of Africa.

Harriet Feinberg, [email protected]

Citation: Harriet Feinberg. Seeking panel at AJS: Schlesin/ Gandhi. H-Judaic. 03-31-2015. https://networks.h-net.org/node/28655/discussions/66003/seeking-panel-ajs-schlesin-gandhi Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 1