Kurt Jonas (1914–1942) was a German-South African architect. As a disciple of

Modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

architecture, he was part of what

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , ; ), was a Swiss-French architectural designer, painter, urban planner and writer, who was one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture ...

termed ''Le Groupe Transvaal'', together with

Harold Le Roith Harold "Harry" Hirsch Le Roith (24 March 1905 – 4 July 1995) was a South African architect. He was a key figure in modern architecture in South Africa in the twentieth century. He is mostly known for designing residential buildings and synagog ...

Rex Distin Martienssen Rex Distin Martienssen ARIBA CIAM (26 February 1905, Queenstown, Cape Colony – 23 August 1942, Pretoria) was a South African architect who was greatly influenced by Le Corbusier and spearheaded a modernist architectural movement in South Afric ...

, John Fassler, Bernard Cooke, Duncan Howie, Monte Bryer and Roy Kantorowich. According to the architect and architectural historian, Clive Chipkin, Jonas was "aware of the need that the new architecture and fundamental social change in South Africa should be complimentary."

Early life

Jonas was born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

in the

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa (; , ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day South Africa, Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the British Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Tra ...

in 1914 to a

German Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321 CE, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish commu ...

migrant parents.The Congress as architecture: modernism and politics in the postwar Transvaal
University of the Witwatersrand. Retrieved on 4 February 2025Kurt Jonas
''Artefacts''. Retrieved on 4 February 2025 The family returned to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in 1918 and Jonas studied at the Lessing-Gymnasium in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. He studied classics and later economics and law at the Royal Friedrich Wilhelm University of Berlin in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. He returned with his family to South Africa in 1934 in the wake of

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's rise to power in Germany. In the same year he enrolled to study a Bachelor of Architecture at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...

. Jonas later told

Rusty Bernstein Lionel "Rusty" Bernstein (20 March 1920 – 23 June 2002) was a Jewish South African anti-apartheid activist and political prisoner. He played a key role in political organizations such as the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Afric ...

and Jock Isacowitz that he had been subject to

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

in Germany.

Career

As a fourth year student in the architecture school, he began to work for the architectural practice of

. Their notable collaboration was the

apartment building Radoma Court in

Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. Bellevue or Belle Vue may refer to: Places Australia * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales Canada * Bellevue, Alberta * Bellevue, Newfoundlan ...

, an inner-city neighbourhood of Johannesburg. Jonas contributed design drawings to the project. He was also chairman of the University of the Witwatersrand's Architectural Society. In 1937 he led the society's Congress and Exhibition of Abstract Art, which sought to "establish unity among all the arts, including architecture, in terms of an abstract aesthetic." In 1938 he organised the Town Planning Congress, with students creating designs for a model black township of 20, 000 residents. As part of the congress, Jonas and his student counterparts in ''Le Groupe Transvaal'' presented designs for a new business centre in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

. On the back of the model township exhibition, he collaborated on a thesis with Roy Kantorowich, Paul Harold Connell, Charles Irvine-Smith and Frans J. Wepener for a "high-rise" black township set in parklands. In addition he lectured at the university, providing extramural lectures on

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

and

public culture ''Public Culture'' is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary academic journal of cultural studies published by Duke University Press. It is sponsored by the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University. ''Public Culture'' h ...

. He acted as a political mentor to his other students and was able to share his knowledge of housing rights, which he had studied in

, an architecture student and later anti-apartheid activist, first learned through Jonas of "the invisible world of black workers and trade unions which existed on my own doorstep." Jonas had also belonged to the Zionist Socialist Party in South Africa, previously known as Tzeirei Zion. In 1941 he moved to

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

to study at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

. In August 1941, the Zionist Socialist Party held a reception in his honour, before his departure.(1 August 1941)
Zionist Socialists to bid farewell to Mr Kurt Jonas
''The Zionist Record''. Retrieved on 4 February 2025 In 1942 he was awarded a South African government postgraduate research scholarship. He also published scholarly articles for the ''South African Architectural Record''. An article for the record was quoted by

Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum; , 1905March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and philosopher. She is known for her fiction and for developing a philosophical system which s ...

in her journal entry written on 7 December 1937.

Death

Jonas died at the age of 27 from a long illness in

(present-day

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

) in 1942.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jonas, Kurt 1914 births 1942 deaths German Jews South African Jews Jewish architects South African architects 20th-century South African architects 20th-century German architects South African Zionists German Zionists Jewish socialists Humboldt University of Berlin alumni University of the Witwatersrand alumni Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni South African emigrants to Mandatory Palestine German emigrants to Mandatory Palestine People from Johannesburg