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Harry Schwarz

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

His Excellency Harry Heinz Schwarz (born May 13, 1924) is a Harry Heinz Schwarz former South African politician, diplomat, jurist and prominent leader in the anti-apartheid movement.

Despite the childhood poverty he experienced as a German Jewish refugee, Harry Schwarz rose to become an esteemed lawyer and soon became a member of the Transvaal Provincial Council, where from 1963-74, he would be Leader of the Opposition. In the 1964 Rivonia Trial he was a defense attorney. As Leader of the United Party in Transvaal, he led the liberal "Young Turks" to breakaway from the United Party and created the Reform Party of which he was the leader. As an opposition leader in Parliament he held the posts of Shadow Finance Minister and Shadow Defense Minister. He was a founding member of the Democratic Party. During South Africa's transition into democracy he was South African ambassador to the United States, and was also th accredited as the first South African ambassador 13 South Africa Ambassador to United to Barbados. He was in the minority opposition States for over 40 years and was a prominent opponent In office of the National Party. March 6 1991 – January 12 1995 President Frederik Willem de Klerk He was one of the founders of the Torch Nelson Mandela Commando, an ex-soldiers' movement to protest Preceded by Piet Koornhof against the disenfranchisement of the coloured Succeeded by Franklin Sonn people in South Africa. He was also on the South African Jewish Board of Deputies and was one 1st South Africa Ambassador to Barbados of the Jewish community's foremost leaders. He In office is regarded as one of the great South African 1993 – 1995 public speakers and debaters of his time. In his political career spanning 43 years, in which he Shadow Minister of Finance gained respect from across the political spectrum, he never lost an election. He is a In office November 30 1977 – May 5 1987 World War II veteran, having served as a navigator in the South African Air Force. In Preceded by John Jaminan 1988 he received the Order for Meritorious Succeeded by Jan van Zyl Service and has several Honorary Doctorates. Shadow Minister of Defense He was described by the University of In office Stellenbosch as "one of the conceptual and moral 1977 – 1984 fathers of the new South Africa" [1] in the sense Preceded by Vause Raw that Schwarz had not only been one of Succeeded by Roger Hulley apartheid's most prominent opponents, but his ideas and the initiatives he had taken had played Leader of the Opposition in the Transvaal an important role in the development of the In office concept of a negotiated democracy in South 1963 – 1974

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Africa, based on the principles of freedom and justice. Nelson Mandela, a friend of his who he Succeeded by Alf Widman visited while in prison, described him as a "champion of the poor". Member of Parliament for Yeoville In office April 24 1974 – February 6 1991 Contents Preceded by Marais Steyn Succeeded by Douglas Gibson 1 Refugee from Germany 1.1 Military Service Member of the Transvaal Provincial Council 2 Wits University for Hillbrow 3 Rivonia Trial In office 4 Provincial Politics 1958 – 1974 5 Tensions within United Party 6 Parliamentary career Born May 13, 1924 6.1 Realigning opposition Cologne, Weimar Republic 6.2 Leader of the Opposition Political party United Party 6.3 Democratic Party Reform Party 7 South African Ambassador to United Progressive Reform Party States Progressive Federal Party Democratic Party 8 Jewish Board of Deputies Spouse(s) Annette Louise Schwarz 9 Awards and honors 10 Present life Children Jonathan, Allan & Michael Schwarz 11 Quotes 12 Sources Alma mater University of the Witwatersrand 13 References Occupation Solicitor Religion Judaism Refugee from Germany

Harry Heinz Schwarz was born to Fritz Schwarz and Alma Schwarz in Cologne, Germany. He arrived in South Africa as a Jewish refugee from Germany in 1934. He traveled onboard the SS Giulio Cesare. To get to the Giulio Cesare, he and his family had to cross the border into Switzerland. They then got on a train to Milan and then to Genoa. When they arrived in Cape Town they stayed in one room in a house in Kloof Street. The descrimination and financial difficulties of his family left a strong impression and helped shape his political philosophy with its emphasis on social justice and the rule of law

He attended Tamboerskloof School and South African College Schools in Cape Town and then Jeppe High School for Boys in Johannesburg.

Military Service

Main article: Military history of South Africa during World War II

In 1942, aged 17, he joined the South African Air Force during World War II in order to fight Nazism. He served as a navigator. He fought in North Africa and Italy. He was in 15 squadron and seconded to the RAF. In 1984 he was made an Honorary Colonel of the 15th Squadron.

Wits University Apartheid in South Africa Events and Projects In 1946 Harry went to University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, where he first befriended fellow students and Sharpeville Massacre Soweto uprising · Treason Trial

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future anti -apartheid political activists Nelson Mandela and Joe Slovo. He joined the United Party and assisted in the Rivonia Trial · Mahlabatini Declaration Church Street bombing · CODESA 1948 election. However, as a result of the National Party St James Church massacre victory, he was determined to become more active and was Cape Town peace march · Purple Rain elected Chairman of the United Party branch at the Organisations university. He argued that the National Party's victory in 1948 was reversible and anyone who opposed them should ANC · IFP · AWB · Black Sash · CCB concentrate on defeating them. He was awarded a BA, with Conservative Party · ECC · PP · RP distinctions in both history and economical history, and later PFP · HNP · MK · PAC · SACP · UDF an LLB. In 1949 he was admitted as an attorney, and later as Broederbond · National Party a barrister (Member of Middle Temple) in London, United COSATU · SADF · SAP Kingdom and, in 1953, became an advocate at the South People African Bar. He was at the Bar at the same time as Joe Slovo. P. W. Botha · Oupa Gqozo · D. F. Malan Nelson Mandela · Desmond Tutu F. W. de Klerk · Walter Sisulu Rivonia Trial Helen Suzman · Harry Schwarz Andries Treurnicht · H. F. Verwoerd Main article: Rivonia Trial Oliver Tambo · B. J. Vorster Kaiser Matanzima · Jimmy Kruger Steve Biko · Mahatma Gandhi In 1964 Nelson Mandela and many other political opponents Joe Slovo · Trevor Huddleston were arrested. They were brought to court in the Rivonia Places Trial. Harry Schwarz was one of the defence barristers in the trial defending Accused No. 8 Jimmy Kantor, who was a Bantustan · District Six · Robben Island close friend of his. Kantor was Mandela's lawyer in the trial Sophiatown · South-West Africa until he too was arrested and charged with the same crimes Soweto · Sun City · Vlakplaas as Mandela. After being the subject of vicious taunting and Other aspects many attempts to place him as a vital cog of MK by Percy Yutar, finally Judge Quartus de Wet discharged him, stating Afrikaner nationalism Accused No 8 has no case to answer. Schwarz was refused Apartheid laws · Freedom Charter access to Mandela while he was imprisoned on Robben Sullivan Principles · Kairos Document Island, however he was granted access to visit him after Disinvestment campaign 1988 when he was transferred to Victor Verster Prison. South African Police After the trial he stopped being a barrister and became a solicitor so that he could concentrate on fighting apartheid. Provincial Politics

Harry Schwarz's political career started with his election to the Johannesburg City Council for Booysens in 1951. He succeeded Labour Party politician Jimmy Green, who was his wife's uncle, who had been the City Councillor for Booysens since 1920. In 1958 in a by-election he was elected into the Transvaal provincial council for Hillbrow. In 1963 he became leader of the opposition in the Transvaal Provincial Council, a post he would hold until 1974. Throughout his political career, Schwarz continued to practice law. However, he briefly withdrew from law between 1969-74 when he was the Chief Executive of Merchant Bank. Tensions within United Party

Schwarz was known as the leader of the liberal "Young Turks" in the United Party who were fundamentally opposed to apartheid, unlike the party's national leader De Villiers Graaff. Schwarz achieved prominence as a race relations and economic reformist in the party. In 1971 he became deputy leader of the UP in the Transvaal, a post specially created for him. However, internal divisions in the Party between liberals and conservatives came to a head in August 1972 when Schwarz replaced Marais Steyn as the leader of the United Party in the Transvaal. Steyn had been a

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MP for almost 25 years and for 15 years had been a close adviser to De Villiers Graaff . After he lost the election he defected to the National Party. His victory was a visible sign of strength from the liberals within the party.

On January 4 1974, Harry Schwarz met with Mangosuthu Buthelezi. They agreed on a five-point plan for racial peace in South Africa that became known as the Mahlabatini Declaration of principles. Its purpose was to provide a blueprint for government by consent and racial peace in a multi-racial society, stressing opportunity for all, consultation, the federal concept, and a bill of rights. It was much closer to the Progressive Party than the United Party policy. It caused a split in the United Party later that year. Despite not being a member of Parliament, Schwarz was called before its caucus

On March 29 1974, Chief Minister Cedric Phatudi of Lebowa signed the ‘Seshego Declaration’ with Harry Schwarz and the United Party M.P. for Durban North aiming at peaceful change, a federal system and a stake in society for black people. Parliamentary career

Realigning opposition

Harry Schwarz played a key role in the realignment of the opposition in South Africa. In the 1974 general election, Schwarz was elected into Parliament for Yeoville, beating Marais Steyn who had defected to the National Party after he was ousted by Schwarz as Transvaal chairman of the United Party. In 1975 he along with three other MPs was expelled from the United Party for signing the Mahlabatini Declaration and not following the "party line". On February 11 he formed the Reform Party, which he led. The Reform Party had four MP's, a senator and ten members of the Transvaal Provincial Council. This made it the official opposition in the Transvaal Provincial Council. On the 25 July the Reform Party merged with the Progressive Party to form the Progressive Reform Party. Schwarz became the party's spokesman on finance and Chairman of the Federal Executive. In 1977 the party was renamed the Progressive Federal party. This proved to realign the opposition in South Africa, as the PFP became the official opposition party in South Africa.

Leader of the Opposition

Schwarz, as his party's finance spokesman (1975-91), defence spokesman (1975-84) and Chairman of the Federal Executive (1975-79), became one of the parties foremost leaders and a prominent leader of the opposition. He was a member and chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance and a member of the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee. While distinctly on the left of South African politics, he was perceived to be on the right-wing of the PFP mainly due to his favoring strong military defense and his insistence that political change must take place without the disruption of law and order, which earned him the nickname "Harry the Hawk Schwarz".

During the budget debate in 1979, Schwarz called for urgent steps to be taken to tackle unemployment. He stated that South Africa needed to create at least three jobs every minute of every 40-hour working week to deal with its unemployment problem. He stated that unemployment was a political time-bomb.

Democratic Party

Schwarz was one of the founding members of the Democratic Party. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, he formulated its social market policy. Given South Africa's complex character, Mr Schwarz advocated a federal system similar to that of the United States, as well as a justiciable Bill of Rights to protect the rights of minorities as well as the majority, a measure which he attempted to persuade parliament to accept. His economic philosophy is summed up in a phrase he often used: "Freedom is

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incomplete if it is exercised in poverty".

On February 6, 1991 he ended his career in parliament. His farewell speech to parliament was entitled "Look after my people while I'm gone". South African Ambassador to United States

Harry Schwarz was the first serving politician from the opposition ranks to be appointed to a senior ambassadorial post in South African history. He was also accredited as the first South African High Commissioner to Barbados in 1993 when diplomatic relations opened. Schwarz agreed to the appointment of ambassador because of the Government's commitment to the fundamental reforms that Harry Schwarz with his wife, President Bill Clinton and he had fought for, as well as on the terms that the National Party Hillary Clinton in 1993 would not try and take his seat in Yeoville. His appointment was widely acknowledged in South Africa as a further demonstration of President F. W de Klerk's determination to introduce a new democratic system.

While in office in Washington, D.C., he worked on marketing the process towards democracy in South Africa and on lifting sanctions. Schwarz, played a significant role in convincing many Americans that the de Klerk government was committed to ending apartheid. In 1991, after international pressure on South Africa, Harry Schwarz signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. After the 1994 General election, he stayed on as ambassador, following a request by Nelson Mandela to stay on in the government of national unity.

Schwarz returned to South Africa in November 1994, following his three and-a-half-year tenure as South African ambassador to the United States. At an event sponsored by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies in his honor, Schwarz urged the Jewish community to make the best of the changes taking place in South Africa and to contribute actively to the success of the country.

Jewish Board of Deputies Harry Schwarz handing his credentials to President Beginning in the mid-seventies, Schwarz has played an increasingly George H. W. Bush in 1991 important role on the Jewish Board of Deputies, serving as chairman of its committee on international relations and often acting as spokesman for the board to Jewish agencies abroad. He argued that violent change could ultimately lead to a nondemocratic government, incompatible with Jewish ethics and with the interests of the Jewish community. He emphasized that Jews needed not only a democratic society for all, but also "The right to follow [their] own religion and love for Israel freely." He was assured in private meetings by Israeli Prime Minister's Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Shamir that Jews in South Africa would not become isolated and links with Israel would be maintained. Schwarz is currently the vice-president of the Jewish Board of Deputies. Awards and honors

Harry Schwarz was awarded Order for Meritorious Service (Gold) in 1988, which is awarded to citizens who have displayed exceptional meritorious and dedicated service to South Africa. In 1995 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate, from the University of Judaism (now the American Jewish University ). That year he also received an Honorary Degree from the University of Stellenbosch . He

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has also been given the Society of Advocates Prize and Transvaal Law Society Prize. In 1984 he was made an Honorary Colonel of the 15th Squadron in the South African Air Force, which he served in during the Second World War. In 2002 he was appointed Honorary Life Vice-President of the Gauteng Council. In April 2005, he was named an honorary fellow of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Sir John Adamson High's School's hall was named, and still is, after Schwarz who was the first Chairperson of the School's Governing Body. Present life

Harry Schwarz retired from politics on returning from Washington, and has returned to law and practices in Schwarz-North. His areas of legal practice are primarily corporate and commercial with special interests in banking, insurance, diplomacy and advocacy. He remains active in the Jewish community and is currently president of the South Africa-Israel Chamber of Commerce and vice- president of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies. After Schwarz left Washington, he and his wife set up a charity trust called the Schwarz Upliftment Trust. In 2000 he left the Democratic Party because of its alliance with the New National Party. Schwarz remains He lives in Johannesburg with his wife Annette. She is the niece of trade unionist Jimmy Green. They have been married for 57 years with three children and four grandchildren. Quotes

"I want to abolish discrimination, not merely cosmetically but in reality."

"It is important that in the process of change, existing institutions of value and means of production are not destroyed. The fabric of society, however critical one may be of its present structures, should be adopted and modified where required, but not destroyed."

"Freedom is incomplete if it is exercised in poverty."

"We are opposed to the homeland concept and we believe the way to solve our problems is to call a national convention of all races to change to a more multiracial basis."

"Democracy is impossible in a climate of violence, intimidation and fear."

"We are a country with a people who are removing the shackles of apartheid and will create a just economic system and a true democracy" Sources

Goethe Institut Südafrika. Biographies. Harry Heinz Schwarz. Seeking Refuge Exhibition. 2005/2006 [1] South Africa Who's who [2] [3] No rest for the dedicated. American Jewish University Link Formerly the University of Judaism [4] [5] Washington Diplomat Bio References

[6] Hebrew University of Jerusalem- Honorary Doctorate [7]

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