# Maria Haller

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{{Short description|Angolan diplomat, journalist, teacher and writer (1923–2006)}}
{{use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Maria Haller
| image         = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing [brackets](/source/brackets) -->
| alt           = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
| caption       = 
| birth_name    = Maria de Jesus Nunes Da Silva
| birth_date    = {{Birth year|1923}}
| birth_place   = [Angola](/source/Angola)
| death_date    = 18 October {{Death year and age|2006|1923}}
| death_place   = [Geneva](/source/Geneva), [Switzerland](/source/Switzerland)
| other_names   = 
| occupation    = diplomat, journalist, teacher and writer
| years_active  = 
| known_for     = [Angola](/source/Angola)'s first female [ambassador](/source/ambassador),<br/>member, Union of Angolan Writers (UEA)
| notable_works = children's story in UEA's ''Acácia Rubra'' anthology
| spouse        = {{marriage|Jean Rodolphe de Haller|c.1955}}
}}
'''Maria de Jesus Haller''' (1923 – 18 October 2006), was [Angola](/source/Angola)'s first female [ambassador](/source/ambassador). She participated in Angola's struggle for independence from its [colonial power](/source/colonial_power), [Portugal](/source/Portugal), she was a teacher, a journalist and a writer.<ref name="angop">{{cite news |url=http://www.angop.ao/angola/pt_pt/mobile/noticias/sociedade/2006/9/42/Morreu-Maria-Haller-primeira-embaixadora-Angola,ba29b3d7-4577-4dba-90e8-9847fb1a8f9a.html |title=Morreu Maria Haller, primeira embaixadora de Angola |language=Portuguese |date=18 October 2006 |publisher=Angola Press Agency |access-date=18 April 2020}}</ref>

==Biography==
She was born in Angola as Maria de Jesus Nunes Da Silva in 1923, the daughter of a 12-year-old plantation worker who had been raped by the plantation owner.<ref name="1000pw">{{cite book |title=1000 Peacewomen Across the Globe |page=924 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kIQnAQAAMAAJ |publisher=Scalo Verlag Ac |isbn=978-3039390397 |year=2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z_suDwAAQBAJ |title=Le dos de ma lumière |language=French |first=Colinette |last=Haller |isbn=9789895151738 |publisher=Chiado Editeur|date=2016}}</ref> When Maria was three, her father sent her to be raised in his native Portugal.<ref name="1000pw"/> At 15, she briefly reunited with her mother and became inspired to pursue activism and politics.<ref name="1000pw"/>

Around 1955 she married Swiss businessman Jean Rodolphe de Haller. While living in [Léopoldville](/source/L%C3%A9opoldville) in colonial [Belgian Congo](/source/Belgian_Congo), she met fellow Angolans living in exile who opposed Portugal's oppression of the Black population of Angola.<ref name="1000pw"/> After returning to Europe, Haller stayed in contact with the group and, around 1965, was asked to represent the [MPLA](/source/MPLA) (People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola) in [Cairo](/source/Cairo), Egypt.<ref name="cremado">{{cite news |url=http://www.angop.ao/angola/pt_pt/noticias/politica/2006/9/43/Suica-Corpo-embaixadora-Maria-Haller-cremado-hoje-Genebra,f7c11527-75fd-452b-af08-9d82221baef0.html |title=Suíça: Corpo de ex-embaixadora Maria Haller cremado hoje em Genebra |language=Portuguese |date=24 October 2006 |publisher=Angola Press Agency |access-date=19 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-isvAQAAIAAJ |page=334 |title=História do MPLA: 1940-1966 |language=Portuguese |author=Comissão para a Elaboração da História |publisher=Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola |year=2008}}</ref> She faced sexism in this role, with Egyptian officials denying her access to radio stations until she and [Agostinho Neto](/source/Agostinho_Neto) threatened to leave Egypt.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://word.world-citizenship.org/wp-archive/1481 |title=Maria de Jesus Haller – Angola |date=3 September 2007 |website=World People's Blog |publisher=World-Wide Asian-Eurasian Human Rights Forum |access-date=19 April 2020 |archive-date=20 May 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150520051903/http://word.world-citizenship.org/wp-archive/1481 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

After 13 years of [war](/source/Angolan_War_of_Independence), Angola gained its independence on 11 November 1975, with Agostinho Neto as its first president. In 1978, Haller became Angola's first female ambassador and was sent to [Stockholm](/source/Stockholm) to represent her country in the [Kingdom of Sweden](/source/Kingdom_of_Sweden).<ref>{{cite book |title=Angolanskor |first1=Birgitta |last1=Lagerström |first2=Hillevi |last2=Nilsson |isbn=9185584436 |year=1993 |publisher=Afrikagrupperna |language=Swedish}}</ref> She later became director of the Asia and Oceania Department in Angola's [Ministry of External Relations](/source/Ministry_of_External_Relations_(Angola)).<ref name="cremado"/>

She was a member of the Union of Angolan Writers (UEA) and in 1988 contributed a children's story to the union's ''Acácia Rubra'' anthology.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ueangola.com/criticas-e-ensaios/item/301-surgimento-e-desenvolvimento-da-literatura-infantil-angolana-p%C3%B3s-independ%C3%AAncia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130615035727/http://www.ueangola.com/criticas-e-ensaios/item/301-surgimento-e-desenvolvimento-da-literatura-infantil-angolana-p%C3%B3s-independ%C3%AAncia |url-status=usurped |archive-date=15 June 2013 |first=Maria Celestina |last=Fernandes |title=Surgimento e Desenvolvimento da Literatura Infantil Angolana Pós-Independência  |language=Portuguese |publisher=União dos Escritores Angolanos (UEA) |access-date=19 April 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://aflit.arts.uwa.edu.au/FEMECalireLU.html |title=Women Writing Africa: A Bibliography of Lusophone Women Writers |first=Tony |last=Simoes da Silva |publisher=University of Wollongong, Australia |date=15 April 1999|access-date=18 April 2020}}</ref>

Haller died on 18 October 2006 in [Geneva](/source/Geneva), [Switzerland](/source/Switzerland), after a prolonged illness.<ref name="angop"/> Her funeral was held in Angola.<ref name="cremado"/>

==Works==
*{{cite book|chapter=Fá...pe...lááá!!! |title=Acácia Rubra |publisher= União dos Escritores Angolanos (UEA) |year=1988}} (anthology of children's stories)

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haller, Maria de Jesus}}
Category:1923 births
Category:2006 deaths
Category:Ambassadors of Angola to Sweden
Category:Angolan children's writers
Category:Angolan expatriates in Egypt
Category:Angolan expatriates in Portugal
Category:20th-century Angolan women
Category:Expatriates in the Belgian Congo
Category:Angolan independence activists
Category:Angolan women activists
Category:Women ambassadors of Angola
Category:Angolan women children's writers
Category:Angolan women writers
Category:20th-century Angolan writers
Category:Angolan journalists
Category:MPLA politicians

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Maria Haller](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Haller) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Haller?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.