View source for Godfrey Kenneth Frederich Beck

[[Godfrey Kenneth Frederich Beck]] (1925-1987) Political activist, poet and playwright 

== Biography ==

Born a "coloured" man in Bertrams, a suburb to Johannesburg in South Africa. He was educated at Siemerts Road Coloured School in Johannesburg and Rehoboth Theological College in Kemptonpark, drafted for the Second World War 1940-45 and later on priest, worker in a shoe factory, salesman and union leader. 

Beck became politically active in 1954, was arrested in 1960 and grounded 1965-67, where he escaped to Botswana and was sent back to prison in South Africa in 1973. He went to to Denmark as a political refugee in 1974 where he stayed till his death in Aarhus in 1986. Beck was an important figure in Scandinavia in the organisation of information and boycot campaigns against [[Apartheid]]. 


== His writing ==

Beck also wrote poetry and plays: ''[[§ 23 – Et spil om Sydafrikas “Immorality Act”]]'' (The Pathos and Echoes of Love) 1976 and ''[[De syv trin]]'' ("The Seven Steps") 1983 were staged in Denmark as a part of the fight against apartheid in the late 1970s and early 1980s. 

The plays were based on real situations and court cases and combined coarse language and poetry.

==Sources ==

[John Andreasen*] 


Go to [[South African Theatre/Bibliography]]

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