Minna Freund

Minna Freund (1890-1938) Actress, voice artist and speech teacher.

Also found as Mina Freund in some documents.

Biography

Wilhelmina Louisa Ida Freund was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, on 17 March 1890, when her parents, John Freund and Metha Mentzel, were temporarily in Europe. Shortly after her birth, the family returned to South Africa, settling in the Orange Free State, where Minna's formative years unfolded. She was educated at Milburn House in Cape Town and later in Edinburgh. In 1909, she moved to London to pursue professional training at the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art under the renowned Elsie Fogerty.

Mother of Christina de Villiers (néé Botha, aka Kina de Villiers) and Betty (Botha) Hugo.

She passed away on 6 December 1938 in Bloemfontein, South Africa

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

Having finished her studies, she returned to South Africa in 1912, where she was appointed as teacher of elocution at the South African College of Music in Cape Town, while also teaching at the Good Hope Seminary, St Cyprian's School, the Wynberg Girls' High School and the Ellersley School for Girls.

Shortly after Prof. W.H. Bell became principal of South African College of Music in 1912, he appointed Freund as head of the Department of Speech Training.

Besides these teaching appointments, her theatrical involvement also included coaching actors for Prof William H. Bell's first productions (Everyman and Hippolytus) at the Stal Plein Hotel - which at the time was the home of the South African College of Music at the University of Cape Town, participation in the 1916 Shakespearian Concert (as part of the Shakespeare Tercentenary Celebration in the Cape Town) and staging Prunella, or Love in a Dutch Garden at the Cape Town City Hall in 1919.

Sources

Verwey, E.J. (ed) (1995). New Dictionary of South African Biography, v.1 , Pretoria: HSRC.)

Peter Merrington, 2009. "Loyal Memory: The Tercentenary in Colonial Cape Town". In The Shakespearean International Yearbook Volume 9: Special section, South African Shakespeare in the Twentieth Century. (Guest editor: Laurence Wright) 29-45.

https://sahistory.org.za/people/wilhelmina-louisa-freund

https://www.facebook.com/ndaviral/photos/on-this-day-17-march-1890-exactly-136-years-ago-germany-south-africaon-this-day-/1348119484002320/

Sjoerd Alkema. 2012. "Conductors of the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra, 1914-1965: a historical perspective". University of Cape Town. Unpublished PhD thesis.

E-mail correspondence from Charl de Villiers[1], read 10 May, 2026.

Go to South African Theatre/Bibliography