Dr Melville Leonard Edelstein (1919June 16, 1976) was born to Nachum and Rose Edelstein in King William's Town. His Litvak parents had first travelled to the UK and then

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

in 1896 before joining the masses of " boere-Jode" frikaner or farmer Jewswhere his parents had settled and Nachum started and ran a successful business. Edelstein was the grandson of Michael Edelstein who established the first synagogue at King William's Town.

Work

Edelstein was a sociologist and respected academic and had devoted his efforts to humanitarian and social welfare projects in

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

. Serving as Deputy Chief Welfare Officer, Edelstein instituted many projects aimed at assisting youth, disabled, poor, and marginalized communities within

, where he worked for some 18 years. A practicing Orthodox Jew, Edelstein was apolitical & dedicated to serving the good of mankind. He was also a pacifist who refused to enlist for World War II. While employed as a social worker for the Welfare Section of the Non-European Affairs Department, which fell under the

City of Johannesburg The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality is a Metropolitan municipality (South Africa), metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in or ...

, he showed great concern for the people of Soweto, where he served for 18 years.

Death

Dr Edelstein was one of the two white men who died in the Soweto uprising of 16 June 1976, when he was stoned to death by a crowd of enraged students. Dr Edelstein had been hosting the official opening for a branch of his Sheltered Workshop Programme in Orlando East, designed to provide employment for disabled people, when news of the student protests reached the project. The ceremony was brought to a hurried end as dignitaries and workers were ferried out of the township. Concerned about the safety of a woman colleague – Pierette Jacques, back at the Youth Centre in Youth Centre in Jabavu – Dr Edelstein drove through crowds of gathering students to get to her office. Edelstein then rushed through the offices, instructing staff to leave immediately. While there, an angry mob broke into the building and stoned him to death. Reporter

Peter Magubane Peter Magubane (born 18 January 1932) is a South African photographer. Early life Peter Sexford Magubane was born in Vrededorp, now Pageview, a suburb of Johannesburg, and grew up in Sophiatown. He began taking photographs using a Kodak Browni ...

later found his body with a note saying "Beware Afrikaans is the most dangerous drug for our future." Magubane said, "If they'd known who he was, this would never have happened."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edelstein, Melville 1919 births 1976 deaths Afrikaner Jews People from Qonce South African people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent 1976 in South Africa Events associated with apartheid Soweto South African sociologists Deaths by stoning South African Orthodox Jews Jewish pacifists South African pacifists White South African people