'' The World that was Ours '' ( 1967 ) is Hilda Bernstein 's personal account of life in Johannesburg under the oppressive surveillance of the apartheid regime . Hilda and her husband Rusty Bernstein were both detained , along with many others , in the aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre of 1960 . Upon their release , Rusty was placed under house arrest , while Hilda 's day-to-day activities were closely monitored by the Special Branch , if not altogether prohibited . Her memoir recalls these fraught years in the build-up to the landmark Rivonia Trial , the events and ordeals of the Trial itself , and finally the couple 's reluctant decision to flee their beloved country in the wake of Rusty 's acquittal . While on the one hand '' The World that was Ours '' offers vivid historical insight into the tumultuous climate of Johannesburg in the early 1960s , on the other it reads as a poignant and emotional recollection of the narrator 's personal dilemmas , as a mother , a wife and a political activist , torn between her private and public responsibilities . ' This has survived as a South African classic , ' wrote Anthony Sampson in the '' Spectator '' , ' not just because it 's beautifully written , but because it conveys the combination of ordinariness and danger which is implicit in any totalitarian state . ' '' The World that was Ours '' is dedicated to ' the men of Rivonia ' - Nelson Mandela , Walter Sisulu , Ahmed Kathrada , Denis Goldberg , Govan Mbeki , Elias Motsoaledi , Andrew Mlangeni and Rusty Bernstein - as well as to their devoted counsel , Bram Fischer
Sharpeville massacre
Sharpeville massacre
The World that was Ours