This Day in History: April 23, 1908
Additional Date: April 23, 1908
Abraham (Bram) Fischer, lawyer and champion against apartheid, was born in Bloemfontein, Orange Free State on 23 April 1908. This man, from staunch Afrikaans descent (he was the eldest son of Percy Ulrich Fischer, Judge President of the Orange Free State, and a grandson of Abraham Fischer, prime minister of the Orange River Colony), became a member of the Communist Party of South African (CPSA), openly participating in its activities. His anti-apartheid stance led him to be a member of the Congress of Democrats and to form part of the defence team for the leaders of the movement during the Treason Trial of 1956 to 1961. He also defended the accused during the Rivonia Trial in 1964.