11:27am Thursday 31st May 2007
The founder of the Muswell Hill Stop the War group and oldest university graduate in Britain has died, leaving behind a legacy of his passion for justice'.
Bernard Herzberg died in his sleep on May 16 at the age of 97, just after finishing his final dissertation for an MA at the University of London and passing all his final year exams. He was 90 when he completed his BA in German literature and, five years later, he completed his first MA, in refugee studies.
In 2001, aged 92, Mr Herzberg set up the Muswell Hill Stop the War group and spent every Saturday at the anti-war street stall in Muswell Hill Broadway distributing leaflets and collecting signatures.
His son Paul said: "Here was a man who transformed old age into something unique in certain ways, the zenith to his long life. But that's how he was. Always searching for and creating meaning in whatever circumstances he found himself. Always his own man. On a mission to the end.
"He was a phenomenal guy. I'll miss him."
Mr Herzberg, who lived in Fairlawn Avenue, East Finchley, fled from Germany when Hitler came to power in 1933 and was a lifelong socialist. While living In South Africa in the 1950s he fought for the civil rights of black South Africans and was passionately against the war in Iraq.
Robin Beste, of the Muswell Hill Stop the War Group, said in his eulogy to Mr Herzberg: "Perhaps most important and the greatest honour of all for me was to stand alongside Bernard in the political activities through which he expressed his lifelong passion for justice.
"We were proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with someone whose life seemed to encapsulate so much history of the century that it almost spanned. We were encouraged by the great satisfaction he showed in every leaflet he handed out and every signature he collected for our anti-war petitions - every one of which Bernard regarded as a step forward in the movement for peace.
"His commitment, energy and persistence were inspirational and he will be very much missed by everyone in our group, for whom he became a very close friend."
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