When They Came for Me: The Hidden Diary of an Apartheid Prisoner

In 1969, while a student in South Africa, John Schlapobersky was arrested for opposing apartheid and tortured, detained and eventually deported. Interrogated through sleep deprivation, he later wrote secretly in solitary confinement about the struggle for survival. In this exquisitely written memoir, the author reflects on the singing of the condemned prisoners, the poetry, songs and texts that saw him through his ordeal, and its impact. This sense of hope through which he transformed his life guides his continuing work as a psychotherapist and his focus on the rehabilitation of others. Apartheid and its resistance come to life in this story to make it a vital historical document, one of its time and one for our own.

ISBN-13: 9781789209082

Media Type: Paperback

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Publication Date: 05-14-2021

Pages: 248

Product Dimensions: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.53d

John R. Schlapobersky is a leading psychotherapist and author based in London. He is a training analyst at the Institute of Group Analysis and was a Founding Trustee of Freedom from Torture in 1985. Publications include From The Couch To The Circle: Group-Analytic Psychotherapy In Practice (Routledge, 2016), which won the American Group Psychotherapy Association's Alonso Award in 2017 and is in translation to other language editions.