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Bram Fischer (1908-1975) was a prominent Afrikaner lawyer who defended Nelson Mandela and other anti-apartheid figures at the Rivonia Trial. He was also a leader of the illegal South African Communist Party and was imprisoned and died in custody.
- Prominent Family
- As A Young Man
- The Rivonia Trial
- Matter of Time
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Born in 1908, Bram Fischer was the son of a prominent family in the Free State colony (it later became a province of South Africa). Bram’s grandfather, Abraham Fischer, served as the president of the Orange River colony. His father, Percy Fischer, became Judge President of the Orange Free State. They belonged to a community where status mattered, a...
By the age of 23, he had declared his opposition to segregation. He won a Rhodes scholarship to the University of Oxford and used the opportunity not only to visit the European continent at a time when National Socialism was on the rise, but also the Soviet Union. And he had met Molly Krige, an independent, free-spirited and unconventional young wo...
As the apartheid regime became more brutal, Bram and Molly’s political involvement deepened, and they became regular targets of the Special Branch. They had to weather banning orders, and Molly imprisonment, all the while raising two daughters and a son with cystic fibrosis. Bram was being called on, more and more frequently, to defend those who fe...
It was only a matter of time until the apartheid authorities, which had been biding their time, would begin to pursue Bram Fischer himself. Within a matter of weeks, he was detained and released. In September 1964, he was detained again, but allowed to leave for London to argue in an important case. Many urged him to remain in the UK, but he return...
Bram Fischer was a senior advocate for Nelson Mandela and other ANC leaders in the Rivonia Trial. He was also a leader of the banned SACP and a prisoner of conscience who died in jail in 1975.
Bram Fischer was a prominent Afrikaner lawyer and a member of the Communist Party of South Africa. He defended Nelson Mandela and other ANC leaders in the Rivonia Trial of 1964, despite facing persecution and imprisonment himself.
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Apr 23, 2008 · Bram Fischer was a lawyer, a Communist and a freedom fighter who defended Nelson Mandela and his comrades in the Rivonia Trial. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and died in 1975, but his legacy lives on as a symbol of courage and sacrifice.
Bram Fischer was a white lawyer and communist who defended Nelson Mandela and other ANC leaders at the Rivonia Trial. He also helped forge a multiracial alliance against apartheid and averted a civil war in South Africa.
- Sir Nicholas Stadlen
Feb 9, 2022 · The article explores the life and work of Bram Fischer, a lawyer and activist who defended Nelson Mandela and fought against apartheid. It also reflects on the current challenges of racism in South Africa and the US, and the need for a bi-annual Bram Fischer Lecture to honour his memory.
May 14, 2020 · Bram Fischer was born in 1908 in South Africa to an eminent Afrikaner nationalist family. Like his father and grandfather before him, Bram became a lawyer and seemed destined for eminence as a future Prime Minister or Chief Justice. His path, however, took a different turn.
