Fischer's Choice

Book excerpt: Martin Meredith documents the remarkable life of Bram Fischer in his biography Fischer's Choice. Fischer was born into an aristocratic Afrikaans family but became one of South Africa's leading revolutionaries. Regarded in his youth as having a brilliant career ahead of him, he rebelled not only against the apartheid system but also against his own Afrikaner people. As a defence lawyer, Fischer managed to save Mandela from the death penalty demanded by state prosecutors for his sabotage activities. He played a remarkable role in the underground movement aimed at overthrowing the government. To the very last, even when all the other conspirators had been arrested or fled into exile, Fischer held out, sought for months by the security police. His single-handed efforts ended inevitably in failure. Sentenced to life imprisonment, he was cast into solitary confinement, the government continued to regard him as a potentially dangerous influence even when he was dying of cancer, refusing all appeals to release him until the last few weeks of his life. Set against the dramatic background of two massive historical struggles, one by the Afrikaans, the other by the Africans, Fischer's life contains all the ingredients of a political thriller.